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{
    "id": 616901,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/616901/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 218,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. J.K. Ng’ang’a",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 54,
        "legal_name": "Joseph Nganga Kiuna",
        "slug": "joseph-kiuna"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I hope that many will people support me. It is true that those resources have been exploited and used by some foreigners. It is good for them to come and educate us on how to mine. Unfortunately, once they come here, instead of educating our people, they manipulate us and we become their slaves. We have many natural resources such as oil, precious stones, gases and even gold. Those resources are there for our benefit. As a Government, we are supposed to set good rules and regulations on how they are supposed to be mined and managed. However, when foreign experts come to the country, they give the Government so many conditions such that even if the Government wanted the citizens to benefit from the resources, it is, somehow, tied up to signing some unreasonable agreements. Therefore, those who benefit more are the foreigners. They mine the minerals and instead of processing them locally, they send them to their countries raw, have them processed there, import them back to our country as finished products and sold to us very expensively. I would suggest that as we pass this Bill, we need to put in place proper measures to ensure that the process is well maintained. Recently, we discovered some oil reserves and everybody is very happy. We are looking forward to the day when that resource will be extracted for commercial consumption and export. However, I would like to caution the Government that, as we sign agreements with multinational corporations, we need to be very careful. We had better be slow but sure. We might rush and destroy everything or find ourselves in a situation where the future generations of this country will blame us for entering into agreements that this country may not be able to get out of. For instance, some time back, the colonial authorities in Kenya signed a treaty which ceded this country’s right of use of the waters of Lake Victoria for irrigation and other usage locally. The water is supposed to flow all the way to Egypt for that country’s irrigation because that territory is semi-arid. In East Africa, we have that water but somebody from Kisumu and Migori cannot use it because of that treaty. When we tried to raise that matter, the Egyptian Government came out very strongly condemning us and threatening to take us to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for violating that treaty, to which we are a signatory as a country. We are still negotiating. When it comes to those other resources like oil, gas and other precious resources, we should be very careful not to make a treaty which will not be helpful to our dear country and citizens. I would like to emphasise that we should let our own people have that expertise so that they can take over from those foreign masters. They have been exploiting us since the old days of slavery. Now, we have liberated ourselves but they are still colonising us mentally. Right now, Kenya is hosting the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Ministerial Conference. They have come here demanding to dictate everything. They are the ones to say what to export. It high time we Africans thought again whether those superpowers or rich nations are there for our benefit or for their own selfish benefits to protect themselves. They stole from our fore-fathers during the slavery times. They came and colonised Africa and they are now colonising us economically. We need to unite as Africans and see how we can assist each other with the little resources that we have. If only we can unite and agree as African brothers that is the only way we shall be able to protect ourselves and grow as a super continent where even those superpowers will respect us. I have a feeling that unless we Kenyans and Africans sit down as Africans and see how we can sort out our own problems, I have a lot of reservations on those white people. 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."
}