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"id": 254809,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/254809/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Kituyi",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Trade and Industry",
"speaker": {
"id": 293,
"legal_name": "Mukhisa Kituyi",
"slug": "mukhisa-kituyi"
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this country today has unique opportunities and challenges. These challenges cannot be pinned down on one Government, political party or one set of politicians. These are challenges that have to be pinned on to all of us. Either we are able today to model a vehicle; to make credit affordable to young Kenyan entrepreneurs, or we are all tired old men and women who are increasingly irrelevant to these young persons, because we are settling old scores among ourselves. The World Bank has availed to this Government, and this country, a soft credit facility for small enterprise development. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and my Ministry are looking at ways of developing a possible vehicle for assisting younger persons, who, when they go to bank are told: \"You do not have security\", or when they go to companies seeking employment, they are told: \"You do not have experience.\" We are asking: How can we break this vicious cycle and give hope and a foot of democracy to young Kenyans? We cannot do this when the dominant thing we are doing is inciting each other, checking how more boldly we can abuse others, or how much higher we can go in insulting. This can be comical, interesting and exciting for a day, but it is hurting the credibility of the political class, that of Parliament and reducing our contribution and role in offering leadership at a critical time in this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you visit the Hotel Intercontinental, the Grand Regency Hotel and Safari Park Hotel, you will find that they are permanently full these days. We can cheat ourselves that because tourism industry is growing, our hotels are full. That is not the reason. Entrepreneurs and opportunists from around the world are filling our hotels on their way to Sudan and the Great Lakes Region looking for opportunities. I would like to engage the political leadership in this country; hon. Members of Parliament from both sides of the House, in saying this: In the 1960s we modelled special purpose vehicles such as the Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation (ICDC), the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) and the Kenya Institute of Education (KIE). We succeeded in creating a Kenyan middle class. The modest fruits we have of Kenyan bourgeoisie were created on taking trade inside Kenya. Today, the biggest frontiers of opportunities are not just domestic; they are regional. Can we engage purposefully to create a national trading house that creates the possibilities of entering into regional markets, that reduces individual costs and risks of Kenyans going into regional trade? How we will dialogue on this when the most interesting things we score points on are who insults the other better than the other, and who is acting holier than thou? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know that this country has experienced devastating drought. It comes back in cycles. I think the drought stretched because we desire the politics of scoring points to blame this Government for the affliction that is hurting so many citizens of this country today. If you look at the statistics, in three years, this Government has sunk more boreholes in North Eastern Province than the previous Government did in 24 years. 304 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 4, 2006 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for the first time in the history of this country, you can see a documentary on the BBC, of bowsers driven by members of the discipline forces driving along dirt roads in northern Kenya, stopping to distribute drinking water. We have private vehicles hired to move hay from the Northern Rift to keep a nucleus of re-stocking herds in the dry areas. Innovative ideas, empathy and foresight is what is needed. However, because we are drawn in the desire to settle political scores, these issues are not important, because they are done by people who want to show that they are not good. I want to use this opportunity to urge, request and beseech this National Assembly; we can compete perpetually while in the Government of this country. However, none of the governments in this country will ever be constituted by angels. We must cite the critical opportunities for our country. If we so much are embedded in the desire to settle political scores and we cannot deal with other issues of governance, this is sad. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have just come from Arusha where I was proud to witness a number of protocols being signed by Ministers from the three countries. We are taking the next level to free up the right of establishment, to free the right of Kenyans to move, settle, do business and farm in other East African countries. These are exciting opportunities, which are seen to be ugly because of our aggressive and self-consumed style. But if Kenya is going to be smiling at Uganda and Tanzania, it will be a good thing. If, after November next year, Kenya is going to be smiling at Rwanda and Burundi, the political class has to lead in that direction. How are we going to lead as a political class and speak for Kenya if we are so much interested in speaking for a factional Kenya? Who is going to see us as credible leaders, the drivers of Eastern African regional integration and the drivers of COMESA opportunities, if we are more driven by the desire to settle partisan petty scores in the National Assembly, or inside the Kenyan body politic? We are competing on who can climb the highest mountain and abuse the most highly placed person in the land!. This is an exercise in futility. We have done it for many years. We could add to the credibility of this House if we could say that we have had enough of that, and that we need to engage beyond settling points. Let us engage to run Kenya. Let us engage to grow Kenya. It is possible and, eventually, it will be more exciting than heckling each other. This House has persons who can step away from this precedent and the desire for petty pitched battles and say: We have a country to grow. We have younger persons looking to us. We have a region which we can offer leadership, if our traditional appetite can be restrained. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I wish to mention two other things. When this House opened, I thought I would use its Floor to announce that, even though trade negotiations have hit a bumpy stretch, during the last Recess we had the 6th Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong. As Africa, our agenda is getting diminished. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the rest of Africa looks upon Kenya to offer leadership. I would like this political leadership to be collectively consumed by the desire to see how we can resist the worst element of globalisation. How can we rally Africa around a purposeful example? As a Government, we are making a big contribution. In a week- and- half, this country is going to host, for the first time since the formation of the Africa Union, a meeting of 54 Ministers of Trade from all over Africa, and five leading Ministers of Trade from around the world in this City. But, while out there people look to us to offer leadership, it is discomforting that when they come to a country which is supposed to offer leadership, they see that we are not consumed by issues of concern to the rest of Africa. We are more concerned about who can incite the other better. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I wish to finish off by thanking those hon. Members who have made personal interventions and contribution in dealing with the famine scourge that has hit this country. I want to thank those who, particularly, raised food donations from their areas, and April 4, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 305 assisted the hungry in other parts of the country. When I went with hon. Ndwiga to donate food to Ilmollelian in Kajiado South, we felt good and proud of it. I want to thank all those who are doing something similar. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}