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{
    "id": 241326,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/241326/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 172,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Moi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 305,
        "legal_name": "Gideon Kipsiele Towett Moi",
        "slug": "gideon-moi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity. I will be very brief in my contribution. Since the time of the Roman Empire, the Constantinople and the British Empire, it was trade that made these empires great. They became vibrant because of trade, and we should take a cue from them. I would like to thank the Minister for his good performance in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks. It is very unfortunate that these talks collapsed. This should not have been a surprise, because the United States of America (USA) and its allies always protect their people and farmers from Third World countries. Until they change their attitude, I do not think anything good will come out of such talks. Much has been said about the collapse of Uchumi Supermarkets. One thing about the collapse of Uchumi Supermarkets that confirms to me is that the Government has no business being in business. That is a fact. Now, through the rescue plan by the Government, we are pumping more of taxpayers' money into Uchumi Supermarkets. It is prudent that immediately it stabilises, the Government should offload its shares in uchumi Supermarkets to the general public through the Nairobi Stock Exchange. The Government should divest completely from Uchumi Supermarkets. Secondly, on the issue of trade, we have to protect our local industries and farmers. One way of protecting them is by giving them accessibility to overseas markets. I say this because my eyes and ears are on the tea industry. We have problems with the introduction of tea picking machines. But it is a fact that unless we introduce these machines, we will price ourselves out of the international market. We cannot stand in the way of technological progress. We cannot do that, no matter how much we try to stop it. We will just be hindering ourselves. If you look at the tea industry, you will see that it has employed people to carry those machines. It has employed hundreds of people to run new factories built by investing money to the tune of Kshs1.2 billion. The machines have opened up markets in Japan for the tea industry. It will be very unfortunate if we tell our tea factories to shut down. If we do that, we will send wrong signals to investors who would like to come to Kenya to take advantage of the use of modern technology and good agricultural climatic conditions. We know that there is debate on the issue of use of DDTs to fight malaria. We must again look at this in the light of the horticultural and flower industry. The Western World and traditional markets overseas have threatened to shut out Kenya's exports out of their markets if we attempt to use DDT. We have got flowers which are grown locally. We should look at pyrethrum instead of DDT, because hundreds of thousands of livelihoods will be affected if DDT is used. A colleague of mine has mentioned about having trade attaches. We have had some very good trade attaches all over the world. In particular, I remember a certain Mr. Kihara in Canada. Unfortunately, he was recalled to Nairobi. He was a very able young man. I think the Minister should take note of that and post overseas young, vibrant and business-oriented officers as trade attaches to promote Kenya and encourage foreign investments. In conclusion, I would like to say that Kshs1.6 billion is certainly not enough for a Ministry July 25, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2313 as important and vibrant as the Ministry of Trade and Industry. I would like to plead with my colleagues to consider allocating more resources to this Ministry. This is because this Ministry is key to the development of this country. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}