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{
    "id": 695390,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/695390/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 76,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ochieng",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2955,
        "legal_name": "David Ouma Ochieng'",
        "slug": "david-ouma-ochieng"
    },
    "content": "Over and above the issues of procedure involving ratification and the EAC, the most important thing is whether as a country, we are prepared to take advantage of the economic and business opportunities that are being created in the EU. In the last three years we have been in this Parliament, we have voted so much money to the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and Cooperatives to ensure that we develop the capacity of our businesses to produce for the external markets. We have given money to the Ministry to increase production in the leather industry. We are trying to do something in the cement industry. We are trying to raise capacity in the agriculture industry and to invest in livestock and meat production. We are doing this to capture international markets we are yet to access. We are trying to ensure that we are able to sell more meat products to the EU, the UAE and the USA. What is important is how the Government of Kenya responds in terms of allocating resources to the Ministries concerned and creating an environment that is conducive to our industries producing for those markets. A case in point is the sugar industry. We have had a long running agreement with the EU on sugar, but we have never been able to meet our quota because we have not invested well in the sugar sector. We have not structured our sugar industry to enable it to be competitive and to produce enough not just for local consumption, but also for better prices in Europe. Mauritius is a country in Africa. They sell all the sugar they produce in their country to Europe and import cheaper sugar from elsewhere for their domestic consumption because Europe gives them better prices when they export under the sugar agreement than anybody can give them. As a country, we should also decide to go over and above flowers, which we are now crying about today. We are crying about flowers losing market. We have dealt with flowers forever. Over and above increasing the capacity of our horticulture farmers to export to Europe, we want to diversify and create other avenues and businesses in the livestock business. We have been advised by the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and Cooperatives that the share of our trade on meat products is very low and yet, the amount of meat product exports to Europe is very high. Kenya has enough livestock, be it camels, cattle, goats or sheep. We need to invest in that area to enable the North Eastern people to export those products, create jobs, industrialise this production and ensure that we are doing business in the most competitive manner possible. Hon. Speaker, if you look at our trade with Europe in the area of semi-processed goods, we are exporting raw coffee and tea to Europe today. They take it, blend it, bring it back and sell it very expensively to us. What this country must do to take advantage of the EPA that we are ratifying today is to inculcate the approach of adding value to our products. We cannot export raw materials the way we used to do in the colonial times. We cannot export raw products as if we are in 1963 or before. We are in 2016 and we should export processed products. We should add value to our products. We do not make money by exporting raw materials for others to go and add value and sell back to us. Cadbury and Nestle add value to our raw materials and bring their products back to the country and sell them very expensively. So, the challenge to the Ministry of Industrialisation, Trade and Cooperatives and to all of us who want the best for this country, in terms of creating employment and investment opportunities, is to ensure that we add value to our products by allowing enough resources to go into those areas so that Kenyan products can be competitive. Also, of importance is for this country to operationalise the system of protecting our infant industries. For example, how do we protect the battery industry in this country? Eveready used to produce very good batteries, but it has been wiped out by fake products and unfair competition as a result of our failure to protect our infant industries. We are losing so much. In the last 10 years, the construction industry has been doing very well. We are importing basic 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."
}