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{
"id": 241314,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/241314/?format=api",
"text_counter": 160,
"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": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, the funds allocated under these Heads will be spent mainly on salaries and allowances for the headquarters staff, maintenance of vehicles, travelling and accommodation expenses, purchase and maintenance of equipment and payment of telephone bills and refurbishing buildings, among other expenses. Mr. Spaker, Sir, the amount of Kshs251,829,000 in the Recurrent Expenditure and Kshs3 million in the Development Expenditure has been allotted for the following purposes: Out of the funds allotted under Trade Subsector Budgetary Allocation, there is a Recurrent net expenditure of Kshs891,536,412 and Kshs111,800,000 under Development Vote. The Trade subsector will be spending that money on trade negotiations within the framework of SPEU and recognition of the importance of regional markets such as COMESA and EAC. The Ministry will meet its obligations in terms of contributions and active participation in trade development and facilitation activities. My Ministry appreciates the importance of market access and, to that end, the Ministry will be involved in aggressive marketing and promotion in order to take full advantage of the importance of the American market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). My Ministry also spends funds on trade development, external trade promotions and consumer protection services. Further trade negotiations will be linked to poverty reduction and development. Under the Industry Sub-Sector, an amount of Kshs465,142,864 has been allocated to Recurrent net expenditure and Kshs299,626,000 has been allocated to Development Expenditure. Those funds will be largely spent on the implementation of the Private Sector Development Strategy (PSDS) Action Plan. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the other critical areas which my Ministry will fund during this current Financial Year include the preparation of a national industrial master plan, which will include potential industrial projects. The Government's major role in the industrial sector will be industrial policy development. The Ministry will work closely with the private sector, which we recognise as the engine for industrial growth, largely through accessing appropriate technology, rehabilitation of ailing industries, expansion of growing industries and bench-marking of key local industries to international standards. The Ministry will also fund the implementation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) competitiveness project, under the Multicountry Joint IDA/IFC Development Pilot Programme for Africa. Development of livestock-based industries in Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) will also be undertaken. My Ministry will also contribute funds towards industrial research and investment-related parastatals such as KIRDI, Kenya Industrial Property Office (KIPO) and Kenya Investment Authority (KIO) for purposes of promoting research and investments. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I would like to mention a number of achievements from our Ministry over the past year. We provided leadership in multi-lateral and regional trade negotiations leading to the success in safeguard measures on sugar and wheat flour imports from the COMESA region, to facilitate restructuring and give temporary protection to vulnerable Kenyan farmers. The Ministry also commenced implementation of the MSME competitiveness project after receiving a grant of US$22 million from the World Bank. The Ministry abolished excessive and cumbersome business licences as part of the innovations for improving the business environment. Those reforms are still on-going. We completed the preparation of the Private Sector Development Strategy, which is to be launched soon. Several trade fairs and market surveys were successfully concluded, including the Expo 2005 in Haiti and Japan, where Kenya emerged among the top participants and, by far, the leading country from the developing world. In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, Sir, I wish to assure you, and the House, that the main positive contributions that I have stated will not cause any complacence on the part of our Ministry. As it July 25, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2305 were, trade and industry sub-sectors are highly sensitive to weak infrastructure, negative publicity, insecurity and inadequate financing. For that reason, we intend to work even harder to strengthen those sub-sectors and linkages to the relevant Ministries and Departments of the Government for sustainable development and employment creation. In so doing, we will continue to urge others to move forward in a concrete way to fight poverty. Last but not least, I wish to assure hon. Members that my Ministry will do its best to ensure that funds allocated in the current Financial Year will be utilised to the highest degree of accountability and transparency, in order to ensure that our Government brings about comprehensive economic change for Kenyans, as they rightly deserve. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I did mention that early yesterday morning, Doha round negotiations which have been going on since November, 2001, ended prematurely. It has been one of the main setbacks in world trade rule-making for the past decade, if not more. That represents a challenge for us in two important ways. The absence of a democratic multi-lateral forum for negotiating rules of trade forces weak and vulnerable countries to confront much more powerful countries in bi-lateral negotiations where ability and manoeuvarability is very constricted. We are going to face a period when the dictates that were pushed down our throats, like the infamous days of structural adjustments, will start rearing their ugly heads again. Similarly, the collapse of the Doha negotiations coincides with a critical phase in the negotiations of the economic partnership agreement with the European Union, in the post-Lome negotiations. The failure of Doha emboldens Brussels to come much more aggressively in forcing Africans to open up their markets in the so-called reciprocity as part of the new agreement. Mr. Speaker, Sir, a lot of the critical challenges that infringe on the use of agriculture, particularly export agriculture, as the growth engine of our economy, are totally dependent on how well we structure our negotiations for external market access. With those very many remarks, I beg to move. I request hon. Obwocha to second the Motion."
}