HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 240966,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/240966/?format=api",
"text_counter": 160,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Mwiraria",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 283,
"legal_name": "David Mwiraria",
"slug": "david-mwiraria"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. I stand to support this Motion. Before doing so, let me congratulate the Minister for being able to articulate the problems of not only Kenya, but also those of other developing countries in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). I was provoked by some of the remarks made by my friend, hon. ole Ntimama, who made some other good points. However, I disagree with him in his view that the East African Community and other regional organisations will collapse the way the old East African Community collapsed. I do not want to repeat what was said by my colleagues. I want to make one plea to the Minister, namely that the time has come for Africa to think about its development. Today, we are seeing the second scramble for Africa by the developed world. This scramble is all about African resources. The Minister is aware, after his experience in the WTO talks, that the WTO was, in fact, established as an instrument to make developed countries even richer. I am glad that he has taken positions which have helped other developing countries to see that we stand to lose a lot if we do not think about the poor countries in our negotiations with the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Since Africa is the richest continent in the world in terms of resources, my view is that the Minister can, through his colleagues in the African Union, begin talking about development of resources in Africa. If we do that, we shall stop selling our resources as raw materials to other countries abroad like we are doing today. July 26, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2397 Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in Africa, Kenya should, perhaps, take the lead in trying to formulate an African policy. Are we, for instance, going to close our borders and look inwards? Are we going to begin developing Africa for Africa's own interests? At the moment, our resources are being taken out and once there, they are brought back in the form of cars, computers and so on, and yet we pay through the nose to obtain those products. I am aware that when we started as an Independent nation, we had a policy which was boldly termed: Africanisation of Trade and Industry. Somewhere along the way, we lost that policy and we do not care any more. However, I want to put it to the Minister that if Kenya is going to industrialise, it needs to have an industrialisation policy which is not only led by the private sector, but also the Government through the financing of research on the items we can manufacture as a nation. It is only by doing that, that we can truly talk of industrialisation. The time for Kenya and other developing countries to just reproduce items which we can easily import is over. The time has come for us to look ahead and see what we can manufacture. For instance, we could copy what India and China are doing. When are we going to have a scientific city where our people can begin thinking about the future development of this country? Even if it means having a copying system in place, how do we copy effectively and improve on the copies? We, therefore, need an industrialisation policy which the Government should use to lead the way; we cannot leave it entirely to industrialists. Of course, the private sector must be given the free hand that it requires in order to thrive. Recently, we were told about the Youth Fund which is meant to support business among the youth in this country. While we want the youth to be supported in petty trade such as running of kiosks and so on, I would really venture to suggest that Kenya should begin supporting manufacturing among the youth. We have examples to copy from. If you go to India, you will find a small room of about 20 by 10 feet occupied by about 20 artisans and all of them seated on the floor. They do this because they are used to it. You will find each one of them making a little item, but at the end of the day they will have produced, say, a padlock. So, the time has come for us to begin thinking about what our youth can do and getting them trained. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Minister for Information and Communications talked about what Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can do in bringing about development. I believe that there is no question in anybody's mind that the service industry, particularly the ICT, is the most rapid developing sector. It offers immense opportunities for job creation and future development. I would really urge our Minister for Trade and Industry to look critically at this area and find out how Kenya can get a foothold in the manufacture of, say, spare parts. These days, most items are being made to the same standard. We are not supposed to be only a marketing nation where we buy mobile phones from all the countries of the world and market them here. It is important that we begin thinking about how we can be manufacturers, that is, how we can make items like mobile phones and the rest. We can only do that if we have a policy and proper training programme for our people and if the Government takes the lead. I am not saying that we should ignore the private sector. However, the Government must take the lead in showing the way on how to industrialise this nation. India has done so well by establishing a telecentre where people from outside use services in India to reach the rest of the world, particularly the USA. This is an area that Kenya should pay special attention to. After all, most people in the world speak English. Kenyans speak English too; and better than some other people. We should, therefore, be able to offer those services more readily than some of our competitors. Finally, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Youth Fund should, perhaps, be used for value addition. There are things that the youth can make easily. In our agricultural communities, I see mangoes and other types of fruits rot every season. If we can teach our youth how make juices and 2398 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 26, 2006 preserve them, they would be serving this nation in a big way. With those few remarks, I beg to support the Minister and wish him well."
}