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{
    "id": 728133,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/728133/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 331,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. King’ola",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2328,
        "legal_name": "Patrick Makau King'ola",
        "slug": "patrick-makau-kingola"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. It is my opinion, at a time when the House struggles with quorum, that it be first come, first talk basis. However, first, I want to comment on this Appropriation Bill which is a replica of the main Budget Statement. However, I have seen that very little money was allocated to the Export Promotion Council (EPC) of this country. I had an opportunity of attending a workshop. We realised Kenya is exporting goods and services worth Kshs600 billion and importing goods and services worth Kshs1.6 trillion. When you look at that you realise that however much money we put in agriculture, livestock or other sectors of the economy, unless we have a policy on countervailing, we will be doing injustice to this country. I will give you an example. When the Government tendered the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), the China Government won. In the details of the tender, the Chinese Government said cement that we use on the SGR will be imported from China. It also said that the nuts and bolts and the steel would all come from China. What has that one done to Kenya? It has killed the cement industry in this country. It has killed the Numerical Machining Complex that produces bolts and nuts. It has killed the steel factories in this country. How I wish this Government provides direction, either through legislation or a policy, on how we should protect our local investors and local entrepreneurs. Looking at this Bill, D1063 is about primary and secondary education. D1064 is about vocational and technical training. D1065 is about universities. We are churning out a lot of professionals and if there are no jobs for them we will have so many learned people without jobs. How I wish the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for the National Treasury would provide a way forward on how we are going to protect the Kenyan entrepreneur and investor in terms of killing the guerrilla marketing tactics by the First World. For example, we produce paper at Kshs30. The same paper will be sold by China at Kshs20. That will kill the RIVATEX of this country, the East African Packaging Industries and others. We should come up with a policy that will protect our industries. If we do not do that, even if we allocate as much money as possible, it will be a vicious circle. We will never move forward in terms of production and even in terms of funding this big budget. We know that Kshs2.6 trillion is not a mean budget. As a country, we need to re- think our strategy. Lastly, about IEBC, it is a lot of money that we have given them. I wondered why the Chairman of IEBC was expressing unhappiness when the Opposition said that it would establish its own tallying centre. I thought it is a burden relieved from the IEBC. We only want to make a comparison of what they have and what we have. Kenyans are yearning for a credible election. They should not complain. The Chairman should also be careful about what he says. Since the 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."
}