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"content": "is green. They have done a lot of work deliberately to make their country green and the air there is fresh. So, you will love to drive to the countryside and enjoy the environment. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this brings us, as a people, to the subject of the East African Community (EAC). In fact, we clearly called it “community” because we are talking about communities that make the EAC. It is good that the EAC has been enlarged from the traditional three States to now five. It was done deliberately. I think that Rwanda drove this agenda very fast. Rwanda decided that it is in its national interest to be close to the EAC bloc. It was in its interest economically and socially. In fact, I think they have decided to even integrate further by way of language. Our young people are teaching English language in Rwanda. They have chosen to learn English language as one of their national languages or, at least, a language of communication and commerce. They have realized that most of their business comes through Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi. Of course, they do a lot of business with Congo, but I think they have chosen wisely. They are bold in their approach to the EAC. When I was the Minister for Immigration and Registration of Persons, one of the issues that was bothering us most was how to get people to move freely in the EAC. If people move freely, then goods and services will move freely too. As a result, growth moves freely. We realized that the first thing to do is to allow the people of East Africa to walk across other countries without any restriction whatsoever. In fact, Rwanda was the first one to say that you do not need a passport to visit the country, so long as you are Kenyan, Tanzania or Burundian. You needed only to walk into Rwanda, so long as you had your national identity card of your country. They said that if you want to do business in Rwanda, you do not need a work permit. They shocked us because immediately they said that we had to reciprocate by saying that if you are a Rwandese and you want to do business in Kenya, you can walk in and start your business without a work permit. It has been difficult with other nations. In this case, although we do not want to discuss country by country, but there have been difficulty in one of our neighbouring countries who would not want to see a Kenyan get in without a passport and ask how long one wants to stay and what they want to do. For that reason alone, it is very difficult to move people, goods and services in those countries. It is a matter of leadership because if the leadership says that from today, Kenyans can move to Tanzania freely without passports, it will happen. However, if the leadership and the parliaments in those countries say that they do not trust Kenyans, and that is what they say most of the time, it will be difficult to integrate. They also say very bad things like alleging that Kenyans are thieves and might steal their land. This is bad for the EAC. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, what we should build and what I think the President was trying to do here, is build trust. We should trust each other and that we are friends and one can visit us when he or she wants. In fact, one of the greatest speeches I have heard President Museveni give in Kisumu one time is that people at the immigration desk think that their brief is to stop people from coming into the country. He was saying that their brief is to facilitate people to get into the country. He said that if somebody goes to Uganda and does not have enough money, do not worry about him because immediately he finishes using his money, he will flee. So, do not ask him how much he has or how The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}