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{
    "id": 370248,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/370248/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 238,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I would like to thank the Mover, hon. Joyce Laboso, for bringing it to the House. In the last Government, I happened to be an Assistant Minister for Trade. What is coming out is that the main purpose of the EPAs is the European Union (EU) trying to tell Kenya: “If you do not sign these agreements, we shall move our businesses elsewhere because Export Tax is being imposed on our products.” I want to say that, that is not true. There are very basic facts. I am appealing to the technocrats in the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Agriculture to be very realistic and establish facts as they are, before accepting to be threatened by anybody; that people who have invested in this country can wake up one morning and move away with their investments. This country has tremendous advantages for investors. The biggest advantage that we have as a country is our labour force. We have the most productive labour force in the world. Starting from the casual labourer working in the farm, coming to the middle-level manager and the senior-level manager; we have the best manpower that you come across in the whole world. That is why if you go to Ethiopian flower farms, you find Kenyans working there. If you go to Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe or Zambia, you will find Kenyans working there. If you go to any sector, you will find Kenyans working out there. Before an investor thinks of moving his investments from Kenya to another place, he must, first and foremost, consider labour productivity. Hon. Speaker, even if the tariffs of between 5 per cent and 10 per cent were to be imposed, the advantages would still outweigh the effects of these tariffs because, firstly, Kenya has the most productive labour force available in the world. Secondly, this country allows free movement of foreign exchange. If someone comes into the country with US Dollars today, he can leave with them tomorrow. There is no country that has freed foreign exchange movement like Kenya. In our neighbouring countries, there are restrictions relating to movement of foreign exchange. Therefore, let us not be threatened that investors will move out. I call this a red herring. Where will they be moving to? Another important asset in this country is infrastructure. Kenya has the best infrastructure in the entire East African region. We have a good road network and international airports. Somebody cannot just wake up one morning and say that he is going to move away because some civil servants in Kenya are trying to impose fees on their investments, without analysing the actual facts on the ground. Are you telling me that an investor who came to this country and developed a firm, provided it with electricity, started an irrigation project and put up buildings on it can move elsewhere and leave behind such investment, simply because there is a 10 per cent tax charge? Some of the companies have been in this country since the 1960s. So, the story of investors wanting to move away from Kenya is part of behind-the-scenes machinations aimed at ruining the East African Community (EAC). These people have picked on Kenya, which belongs to the EAC. We are also members of COMESA. Currently, there is talk of SADC. There is talk of a bigger market. Hon. Speaker, I am happy that the President is championing the campaign for the development and promotion of economic partnerships in the East African region. He recently went to Burundi. The other day he was in Uganda. The question we should ask ourselves is: “What is our trade volume at the moment?” Sixty per cent of our export trade is in the EAC. The EU market accounts for only 40 per cent of our export trade, and this percentage is decreasing continuously. The reason as to why our exports volume to"
}