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{
    "id": 496602,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/496602/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 109,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Bunyasi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2511,
        "legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
        "slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
    },
    "content": "achieve take-off in the growth that we are talking about. So, achieving fiscal deficits has significant pain; this is the sort of sensitization that starting with ourselves and down to Wanjiku on the road we need to understand; if ordinary people buy it, they will agree to manage the pain that comes with it. A successful monetary union is going to require, for example, the pricing of factors of production. The most critical one, as we have learnt and that we know generally, is labour. Movement of labour is extremely important. You know how much Kenya has suffered in terms of being unable to move its workers to countries like Tanzania, where up to now getting work permits is still a big problem. Uganda has fared much better and Rwanda is fairing even better than that. We have to work and understand implications of harmonizing the factors of production. We must accept that. The other is capital. I can see that the Report has gone to great length to explain what is going to be required in harmonizing financial systems into right policies and the things that will neutralize undue advantages in each country in terms of the movement of capital from one country to another. By being able to move freely, capital will settle in countries where business environment, as one of my colleagues has said, is best. We have to work to create a favourable environment for capital and technology to flow. What I did not see in the Report - the authors can correct me if rapid reading made me not to see it - is land. Land is immutable. We understand that. You are not going to carry land from here and take it to Uganda or Tanzania. That is not the issue. Look at the differences in land policies around East Africa, you want to neutralize undue advantages in incentives for investment, so that within this harmonized region, capital can flow to the places that have the best conditions for investment. Tanzania has severe restrictions on access to land. Kenya has its own challenges with respect to access to land. Kenya has to create and open non-corrupt land market to attract investors easily. Tanzania would have to give up its restrictive policies in respect of providing access to land to foreigners. They do provide access through leasing but you cannot buy land. This has to be harmonized. A discussion of the land issue as one of the key factors of production that is going to help both the monetary union, the ultimate integration--- Going forward, we must look at the land issues. That is a critical factor. As I conclude, I see that the light is coming on. The rigidities that could occur when you do not have factors of production fully liberalized are such that they would make it extremely difficult for the lead economies such as Kenya’s to pull along the other countries like Burundi. Rwanda is ahead in this particular case. In conclusion---"
}