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{
    "id": 496589,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/496589/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 96,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Aden",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 15,
        "legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
        "slug": "aden-duale"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, hon. Speaker, for the opportunity. I rise to support this Report. We must come to the reality and the realization of the direction that modern economies are taking in the world today. It is true that there are challenges in a monetary union, but I can say with confidence that, indeed, the benefits far outweigh the risks of a monetary union in any region of the world that we have so far seen. As I speak, I just want to correct some perception which was created here earlier. This House today is not passing a creation of a monetary union. It is only adopting a report that supports the protocol for establishment of a monetary union. So, there are a lot of other steps towards a common monetary union. That perception must be corrected because we do not want to misinform Kenyans. Indeed, the Committee has done its job diligently; it has strongly recommended that the Customs Union and Common Market Protocol be implemented before we can move into a common monetary union. That I think is a very good direction to go. By the time countries, or a region, achieve a customs union and a common market protocol--- Indeed it means that there will be free movement of goods, capital and people within a region. The only remaining disadvantage then will be that whenever you move your capital or you move your goods to the other country in the region, you will unfortunately have to meet high costs of what we call “transactional costs” as a result of the exchange rates which you have to work with. Earlier speakers mentioned that, indeed, when you want to buy something from Tanzania and you are a Kenyan, you have to change your Kenyan shillings into dollars, your dollars into Tanzanian shillings and then you will be able to buy something. I want to tell my brother, hon. Wakhungu, that when he ended up in Uganda and changed Kenyan shillings to dollars and dollars to Uganda shillings, he probably just saw a big bunch of papers. It is not that he necessarily got more money than he had before. The point I want to make is that, indeed, he met transactional costs in every one of the steps that he took. If only he went with his Kenyan shillings and was able to go into a shop in Uganda, use the same value and buy whatever he wanted to buy; he, probably, would have bought more goods and enjoyed himself more for whatever amount he wanted to use. A monetary union, indeed, encourages, or stimulates, trade between countries. I want to say that the example of the EU is very clear. Germany is the strongest economy in Europe and time and again, we have actually seen it fight very hard to ensure that the Euro continues to survive. The German mark before the union was a very strong currency. One would then wonder why Germany is striving so much to have this monetary union. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}