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{
"id": 240992,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/240992/?format=api",
"text_counter": 186,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Kituyi",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Trade and Industry",
"speaker": {
"id": 293,
"legal_name": "Mukhisa Kituyi",
"slug": "mukhisa-kituyi"
},
"content": " I would be glad that my officers, who are professionals from Business Training Institute (BTI), Kenya Industrial Training Institute (KITI), the Department of Internal Trade, Kenya Industrial Estates (KIE) and ICDC are available to help nurture entrepreneurship. However, the constraints of resources within our Ministry do not allow them to do what they are intellectually capable of. Why can hon. Members not use some of the resources under the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to host workshops on enterprise July 26, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2409 development in their areas? Why can they not use some of those resources to start building industrial sheds, which we can rehabilitate? We have reclaimed back quite a bit of land that we had before and with a development budget of Kshs1 billion, there is increased capacity that we can promise. However, there are some things that we are trying to do. We have reversed the earlier policy which we inherited, which reduced the number of trade officers. They were clustering districts together for trade and industrial officers. I want to assure hon. Members that we are already, systematically, going back to having one trade officer for every district. Similarly, I want to respond to the issue raised by Mr. Muturi, about whether we can have some co-financing from the local authorities, before we can access the District Joint Loans Board (DJLB) monies. Whereas the resources that we have are meagre, we have two or three cases - like Turkana District - where the local authorities have made contributions to the DJLB funds. It is not a necessary requirement, but we encourage, where resources survive from Local Authorities Transfer Funds (LATF), that they be put at the disposal of DJLB, in order to add to production. But, even more importantly, since most of the recoveries are recycled, an encouragement to those who borrowed to pay back and boost the kitty for every given area. But, otherwise, we want to encourage that we all look at innovative ways. Since we have decentralised the resources of development out of the hands of Central Government, we cannot go back to the Government and tell it to do things, and yet the resources were taken away. I think that, that is the reality that we have to live with. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there has been talk about affirmative action. My Ministry voted with action on affirmative action. We are the first Ministry in this Government which opened dedicated offices - not desks - exclusively to service the interests of women entrepreneurs. They are staffed with very competent officers who avail the best information we can give in a way that is gender friendly. We challenge other institutions, even Parliament and other Ministries, to follow suit. We would be very interested to strengthen our relationship with you. But you know again, there is a reality that we face. Between the Business Facilitation Centre funded by IFC up the hill and Techno-Serve, they have more resources that they put into youth entrepreneur development than the Ministry. I cannot stand here and pretend that we are going to do things which other organisations, with resources from outside the country, are doing better than us. But I am glad that the House has seen the potential of this Ministry and its parastatals to do good, if the requisite resources were availed. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, before I finish, I want to say two or three things. This country cannot grow properly without having affirmative action in the availability of development financing. Even with all the talk about liberalisation and privatisation, if Kenya disposes of Uchumi Supermarkets, KIE, the Industrial Development Bank (IDB) and EBK, foreigners will finance development activities. They will use those resources to give contracts to foreigners. It is critically important that the work being done to turn around IDB, and the work being done to give a new impetus to KIE and ICDC, must get patriotic support as the basis of affordable credit to Kenyan entrepreneurs, whether it is in road construction, constructing factories or exporting to neighbouring countries. There is no alternative to having domestically and politically controlled credit line for domestic enterprise development. We can sing up to tomorrow, but if we cannot finance it, those who will finance it will determine those who will benefit from it. Similarly, the Export Processing Zone is an idea that has been important. It is not an end in itself. We have a vision to go way beyond export processing. We are looking at the possibilities of special economic zones. How can we target specific products, create a proper environment under which you can nurture Kenyan talent and entrepreneurship? We have an initiative in my Ministry through the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) and KIE for business incumbencies. But when we do not have the resources requisite for doing it, we may not talk about it enough for people to have 2410 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 26, 2006 ideas.But we are sitting on ideas whose time is now. Unfortunately, much of the time we are relegated to looking to non-governmental agencies to give life to those aspirations. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, although I am glad that the hon. Members are encouraging us to do things, it is important also to mention that sometimes the good work that we do for entrepreneurship requires energies across the board between different Government agencies. This morning I said in this House how our officers intercepted importers of counterfeits worth more than Kshs10 million. The owners of the counterfeits tried to bribe the police officers who were also involved with up to Kshs1 million. These officers refused and blew the whistle about the counterfeits. The importers of the counterfeits were taken to court, were found guilty and they were fined Kshs200,000 and the counterfeit goods were handed back to them. Unless the courts are operating at the same platform as the rest of the agencies, we are frustrating officers who want to do good work. My officers went to Keroche and locked a store because it was producing adulterated poisonous stuff. The owners went to court and got an injunction. The court sent police officers to supervise as the padlocks of my officers were cut and removed. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, my officers were complaining about the merchandise in Nakumatt because some of it was contraband. Nakumatt went to court and got an unlimited injunction not to be inspected. How can you have an injunction to stop standard officers from inspecting what you are selling to Kenyan consumers? This kind of madness is beyond the purview of my Ministry. Similarly, we promote investments and we say that it is now simple to come to Kenya. We have published rules about the Kenya Investment Authority. When you go there, you are told that you are qualified automatically and you are entitled to certain visas and when you go to the Immigration Department, you are told that there are no visas. They tell you to forget about visas because they do not want you. Unless the Immigration Department is ready to keep the promise of the Kenya Investment Authority, we look foolish. Similarly, a certain source of arbitrariness has to go out of the management of public affairs. While it might be right, for example, to say that we do not want to encourage new investments around Maasai Mara, we should allow these to mature over time, so that no Government agency will be processing applications for investments and issuing licences, and then see on television that this has been banned overnight. Lastly, I wish to apply myself to the matter that has been mentioned of the tea picking machines. First of all, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development has been unfairly criticised as if she was responsible for a decision she announced. It was a Cabinet decision to re-open dialogue about the machines to obviate an industrial action. Secondly, I personally negotiated in Nagoya with the largest importer of green tea in Japan for Finlays to start exporting green tea to Japan. For their purpose, they need those machines. It beats every logic to tell the world that an industry which is employing 70,000 people will lose 80,000 jobs if it mechanises. Aguementum ad ignotum, the reality is that there is no historical precedent where a trade union movement can defeat the progress of technology. With those many remarks, I beg to move."
}