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"id": 232068,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Balala",
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"legal_name": "Najib Mohamed Balala",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move the following Motion:- THAT, in view of the unique location of Mombasa as a port, urban and industrial complex on the East African Coast, supported by landlocked neighbours and the East African Community and being aware of the enormous potential for job creation, attraction of foreign direct investments, opportunities for large scale exports, transfer of technology and management know-how, regional development and industrialization; this House grants leave for the introduction of a Bill for an Act of Parliament entitled The Mombasa Free Port Authority Bill, to provide for the establishment of a locally controlled and indigenously managed Free Port Authority and for matters incidental thereto and connected therewith. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is a very important subject that we are about to debate in this House. It is not only important to the people of Mombasa, but to the whole country. the Port of Mombasa is an economic power that we have, for a long time, underestimated. It is, indeed, a natural resource that has been well known for a long time even before colonialists came to this country. This is an opportunity that we do not want to waste. The harbour at Mombasa can be used to create more jobs for Kenyans. We know that other countries in the world are powerful not because their politicians make a lot of noise, or they are enormous in size. Their power is actually economically based. In these countries, areas have been designated where trade is done freely. They have different names for these areas; for instance, free port, free zone, Export Processing Zone (EPZ) and so on. Those are names that define areas where people are allowed to do business freely. A free port is a section of the port where traders are exempted from paying any tariffs and sticking to certain regulations November 29, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 4007 within that area. Here, I am particularly talking about Customs Duty. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have seen countries rise from nothing to economic powers. A good example that we have here in Africa is Mauritius. This country is now a free port. For that reason, it has attracted so many businesses and has, indeed, made a difference in our continent. Dubai is a desert country, but it has developed tremendously in the last 30 years. With regard to Mauritius, which is a small isolated island, it has been able to develop into an industrialised country that has successfully lowered its unemployment rates from 20 per cent in 1970 to 3 per cent currently. We all know how Dubai has transformed. They have made tremendous advancements in the area of free trade. They have created a country in which taxation is very low and security is actually state-of-the-art. Also, they have created a city called the UAE- Dubai Double Ali Port and Free Zone, which as we talk today, is the only one that employs 50,000 people with a total turnover of US$10 billion. The licenced companies in this city number about 2,200. In our secondary schools, children are taught about the Panama Canal. This is the largest free trade zone in the western hemisphere. It boasts of 500 licenced companies and sustains about 80 per cent of Panama's trading activities which make it a proper free trading zone. Singapore is a major world trading centre and the busiest free port in the world in terms of the shipping tonnage and many bunkers. It is also the world's third largest oil refining centre. What about Hong Kong? It is a major free port within China and the world's busiest container port. Shipping performance in China is the best in the world and port charges there are among the lowest in the world. I could give many examples of ports that have been properly managed. Of late, television channels, for instance, DSTV, have been showing an advertisement of TINAPA, which is an industrial zone in Nigeria. Why can we not ape the rest of the world? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is important for us to look at what the rest of the world is doing and borrow a leaf from them. That way, we shall be able to do so many things to develop our country. I know people are asking themselves: \"What happens to the revenue generated by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in Mombasa?\""
}