Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 576062,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/576062/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 200,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mohamed Abass",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2983,
        "legal_name": "Abass Sheikh Mohamed",
        "slug": "abass-sheikh-mohamed"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support the Bill. The Special Economic Zones Bill is very crucial now. This country’s development has always been within 50-kilometre radius along the railway lines. Today, this Bill gives us the opportunity to have, at least, three economic zones where we will be able to diversify our economy. If it was not for corruption in this country, Kenya would have been an economic tiger like Malaysia and Singapore. Unfortunately, corruption is rampant in this country. The economy is not growing, there is a lot of mishandling of resources and there are many theft cases. Unfortunately, it is now that this country is realising that. After realising that Kenya is now becoming the economic tiger in Eastern Africa, we are now waking up on a serious note. One other thing is that we made a mistake in Sessional Paper No.10 which rendered some parts of this country economically unviable. This is the mistake we made from the beginning in 1965. The Sessional Paper No.10 has unfortunately made large parts of this country a non- priority for development. To date, the same problem is hindering our development. One thing I want to say is that there is no way 30 per cent of this country can be able to develop this nation. The people are the nation and the population is growing, their requirements are growing and the country is going to be industrialised. By 2030, this country is geared to become a middle level income industrialised country. As it is, we need to invest in research. This country is not doing much in research. We also need to enhance research funding. We also need to give incentives. With the support of these Special Economic Zones, today we, at least, have some incentives for tax holidays so that investors can be able to come. One more thing is that we need to diversify our production systems. As you are aware, this country has a huge potential for irrigation and food production. This is the case and yet it does not have enough food. It is not even able to feed its own population. A country that cannot feed its people is not going to develop. I think we need to go back to the drawing board. We have a huge water resource like Lake Victoria and Tana River that flows 24/7. That water is not utilised anywhere. In terms of the untapped resources within the northern part, the forgotten land of Kenya, today, we have a lot of hydrocarbons. We have a huge reserve of gases, a lot of oil and green energy. We have wind and sun energy. We need to tap all these for this country to grow. By putting aside 3,400 kilometres square for development and for the Special Economic Zones is a move in the right direction. The same Bill will be able to support some incentives for the people. One other thing is that the Bill bars briefcase entrepreneurs, those who call themselves entrepreneurs but depend on brokerage and all those things. Because of the heavy penalties, they cannot benefit from these Special Economic Zones. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, almost 70 per cent of this country is comprised of the youth. The Special Economic Zones should support the youth and women and have a lot of incentives for cottage industries. That will give incentive to rural entrepreneurs. When we hosted 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."
}