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"id": 255844,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Khalwale",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for East African Community",
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"legal_name": "Bonny Khalwale",
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"content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to congratulate the President for the excellent Speech that he treated us to. I also want to say the same about the short speech by the Speaker of the National Assembly. The issue of the economy, as evidenced in the President's Speech, captured my imagination. For the economy of Kenya, over a very short period of three years, to grow from negative to 2.8 per cent in 2003 to 4.3 per cent in 2004 and finally, to 5 per cent in 2005, is not a mean achievement. However, I believe that we can do better. I believe that if we really must applaud and be proud of this economic growth in the country, we must see the effects of that growth trickling down to the people who brought us to this House. I believe that we still have a very big opportunity in seeing this economy growing even better if emphasis can be put to the known. As espoused by Mr. Khamasi, it is known to all of us that the No.1 agricultural commodity that brings in foreign exchange is tea. It is important that we ask ourselves: Why are we concentrating on coffee which last year earned us Kshs7 billion as opposed to tea that earned us Kshs41 billion? We must put emphasis on tea. Doing this is not too difficult because farmers are going to get discouraged in improving their tea because they do not get returns. The returns have been dwindling because there is a lack of imagination in the Kenya Tea Development Agency (KTDA). Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, what is crucial is to expand the market. It is pathetic to note that the best consumer of our tea, Pakistan, has a paltry population from which we are trying to attract in terms of consumption of our tea. The world market still remains open for tea. The USA, which buys very little tea from us, has a population of 300 million. If we target that market, we shall create a good market and our farmers will get better returns. China, which consumes less tea from this country than Uganda here, has a population of 1.3 billion. If only Kenya's foreign missions that are stationed in those countries could move away from the petty and concentrate on commerce, we would reap the fruits of an expanded population. I forgot to mention Indonesia. It has a population of 214 million and it consumes less tea from us than a place like Egypt which has got a population of only 75 million. As you might recall, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, His Excellency the President allowed me to deputise for the Minister for East African and Regional Co-operation. I want to report that the EAC has recorded monumental events which the populace of the three member states have no idea about. The Customs Union is operational. The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) is actually in its fifth year; the East African Court of Justice is operational and even the Lake Victoria Basin Commission has been started off with the headquarters here in Kenya at Kisumu. The German Government has funded the construction of an ultra-modern centre for the East African Community in Arusha on a plot of over 200 hectares. In spite of all these, these many gains have not made sense to the people of East Africa. If we want to go for a political union or federation, it is important that we develop social programmes that will make our people socialise together to realise that we are one nation. Otherwise, if we do it before that, the federation is likely to collapse. 76 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 23 March, 2006 Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we should consider social programmes and projects that will be shared by the people of the EAC to encourage them to realise that they are one people. I have in mind the issue, for instance, of sending sporting teams to international events. It would be interesting before we reach the political union for us to start now by sending an East African team to the African Cup of Nations, the World Cup and many other events. The other area where we can socialise very easily, and which was tested in the past, is the issue of the education system. We should quickly harmonise the East African education system so that we do the same system and sit the same examinations for our youth to realise they are one. I am reliably informed, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, that you do not hold any Kenyan certificate. In fact, you only hold the East African Certificates. This is why your thinking picture is much wider than the hon. Members here."
}