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{
"id": 238034,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/238034/?format=api",
"text_counter": 180,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Syongo",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 316,
"legal_name": "Zaddock Madiri Syong'oh",
"slug": "zaddock-syongoh"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. This Motion seeks permission from this House to introduce a Bill for an Act of Parliament entitled the Trade Co-ordination and Promotion Bill in order to establish four institutions. The first institution, the External Trade Authority, will essentially deal with issues of external trade, co-ordination and promotion of export trade in order to earn this country foreign exchange in an orderly manner, as well as to create employment in the field of production, manufacturing, as well as in agriculture. On many occasions, opportunities for export trade go unutilized because there is no single authority responsible for spearheading the growth of our external trade. If you consider this particular issue of external trade, you will note that there are very many bilateral trade agreements signed between Kenyan and other countries outside, yet immediately after they are signed, they are put on shelves. They collect dust and there is no follow-up to ensure that Kenyan producers, farmers, as well as manufacturers take full advantage of these bilateral trade agreements in order to realize their benefits for this country. Secondly, Mr. Speaker, Sir, there are a number of multi-lateral trade arrangements, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), and economic partnership agreements such as the one we have between the African-Caribbean, Pacific and the European Union (ACP/EU). There is no co- ordination to ensure that the producers, farmers and manufacturers in this nation take full advantage of this arrangement. Within our region, we have the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC). It is also envisaged to set up the All-Africa Economic Community (AAEC). Once again, these are opportunities which should be available and there is no single authority responsible for co-ordinating and ensuring that our producers, farmers and manufacturers take full advantage of these associations. Worse still, many Kenyan producers, farmers, agricultural groups, co-operatives and manufacturers miss many opportunities for external trade and export because there is no co-ordinated method of alerting them or advising them on what opportunities exist, so that they can take full advantage of them and increase their export trade. Mr. Speaker, Sir, presently, the whole policy area on external trade is fairly unco-ordinated. We have a Department of External Trade in the Ministry, we have the Export Promotion Council and a plethora of desks responsible for various countries, COMESA and even the EAC trade arrangements. However, the efforts of all these departments go completely unco-ordinated to the extent that there is minimum effect on the economy on this country as a result of the opportunities that exist. What is even worse is that, if you look at the trade attaches who are attached to our October 25, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3111 various missions abroad, they have multiple reporting lines. One does not know whether they should report to the Director of External Trade, the Export Promotion Council or even the ambassadors or high commissioners. As a result, their efforts are totally unco-ordinated and they are performing below par. Mr. Speaker, Sir, now, I would like to talk briefly about internal or domestic trade. The domestic trade sector provides enormous opportunities for the creation of employment opportunities for our youth and women and, indeed, many of them are employed in that sector, but it is the most haphazardly conducted business. In fact, you get into that business or sector at your own risk. For one, if you take any municipality, there is hardly any land, site or location set aside for traders to do business, or for private developers to establish shopping malls, market stalls or shopping centres to enable our traders to take advantage of buying from manufacturers or primary producers and selling the same to consumers. If you go to any city in this country, you will find roadside shops where even beautiful furniture is being displayed along the roads because there is no opportunity for our people to sell their merchandise in a decent and co-ordinated manner. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there are enormous opportunities in warehousing, wholesale trade, retail trade through supermarkets, dukas and even hawkers. Yet, we have no institutional or proper legislative framework for ensuring that these activities do flourish and create job opportunities, and add to our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and economic welfare of our people. If it were well co- ordinated, this sector would, indeed, help the Government and this country to even expand the tax base for the local authority treasury as well as the national treasury. Right now, with just a little effort by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), we have almost doubled the tax collection and, therefore, reducing our dependence on foreign assistance. Can you imagine what would happen if our trade sector was properly co-ordinated and managed in terms of revenue collecting, which can then be ploughed into development activities such as development of infrastructure, rural electrification, education and health? This particular sector, just like the external trade sector, is thoroughly unco-ordinated and under-utilized."
}