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{
    "id": 497467,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/497467/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 70,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Njuki",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1372,
        "legal_name": "Onesmus Muthomi Njuki",
        "slug": "onesmus-muthomi-njuki"
    },
    "content": "The amount of time it takes one to fly to Mombasa is one hour and the time it takes to travel by bus or car, would probably be a whole day. If one travelled by air, he would go there do business and come back. However, what has brought this is the head start that Kenya Airways was given because it has been operating for some time. The other small airlines have not been able to catch up with Kenya Airways. Maybe, it is because of taxes that the Government normally levies. If you look at the taxes that are normally levied on the spare parts and parking licences, it is very inhibitive. There is nothing that inhibits growth of a sector like monopoly. Monopoly does not bring in new ideas or innovation because you feel comfortable and only concentrate on being a predatory competitor to the small airlines. When smaller airlines start operating in Kenya like the Fly 540 and Air Kenya, Kenya Airways introduced another airline which was a sister company called Jambo Jet which had lower fares just like the Fly 540. They actually placed their offices next to Fly 540 so that you could compare the prices. This was just to make sure that they continued operating with the elites who could afford to pay high fares. Of course, at the same time they could give predatory competition to other airlines like Fly 540 which were serving the less lucrative short distances that most people could not afford. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the urbanisation problem that we are facing at the moment in Kenya is the housing and rent payment in Nairobi. If we had efficient air transport which is affordable to most Kenyans, there could be very few people who would prefer to operate from Nairobi. Personally, I would prefer to operate every morning from Chuka/Igambang'ombe constituency and use, maybe, Ksh.4,000 to come to Nairobi and go back in the evening. That is if air fares were low and competitive. However, at the moment we have that problem where it is only a preserve of the rich. This has brought about competition which has profiled the rich and the poor; even when it comes to providing basic services like education. For example, if you have a family living in a place like Lewa, your children cannot afford going to schools in Nairobi every morning. A few families have children who fly to Nairobi every morning by choppers because those are personal aircraft. If we had many airlines and therefore fares were fair, then it would be possible for children to come to school in the morning in Nairobi and go back to Mombasa in the evening. This will reduce profiling and political problems, where we have regional segregation, where people say that is our Coast, Central and Western. It would help create an interactive nation because of the free transport. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the training of pilots, airline crew and engineers in the air sector is a preserve of the rich in Kenya because it is very expensive. The other day we saw one of our Members of Parliament being victimised because his constituency, Mathioya, somehow decided to make education available to the poor. If you consider the people who dominate that sector, it is only the children of the rich. When will the children of the poor ever fly? When will they be able to service an aircraft and stop servicing the Peugeots and Toyotas only in River Road? If we had a government school like other countries; like South Africa has subsidised rates where children of the poor can afford to be admitted to such schools; just the same way we have public and private universities. This would be possible for 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."
}