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{
    "id": 770850,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/770850/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 86,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Bunyasi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2511,
        "legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
        "slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
    },
    "content": "economies of the member countries in which Kenya was a founding and active member, I am quite encouraged that we have the talent and level of experience of people who will be able to contribute to this. We have people who have seen this from the beginning, particularly the last 50 years from the mid-1960s, when we moved from the East African Common Service Organisation to what has now become the Community. People like Hon. Oburu Oginga will be able to give a perspective not only of institutional memory but also solid thinking that should help drive what should be the major economic interest of this region. Some colleagues have mentioned the apparent restrictions of livestock and persons in crossing borders which is inimical to the interests of the Community. I hope that the people that are finally elected tomorrow will be broad-minded, not just about Kenya but East Africa. Once they get in, they will be representing the Community much more than just individual countries. If we get people who go in to narrowly speak for the interests of their countries, we shall not get the synergy that is needed to be able to drive this Community forward. This Community will only move at the pace at which Kenya drives it. We seem to have the greatest zeal in driving the Community. It is also because we are the ones with the economy that seeks to reach out much more aggressively than the other countries. We all know that if we seek out the rest of East Africa; and as East Africa, seek out the rest of Africa and the world; then the economy of Kenya, being an anchor economy of this region, will greatly benefit. When we talk about diverse representations, those considerations should be subservient to the capacity to contribute effectively to the Community in a way that ultimately benefits Kenya. When it benefits Kenya, it will create and give us opportunities for more employment creation in the region and with Kenya having an increased share because we are the largest and most dynamic economy. If we optimised our growth potential in Kenya, we would be very far ahead - not of the Community but with the Community. As I said, we are in the driver’s seat. Sometimes we forget to think about the fact that what is important for our political administrations is to move economies in stable political environments, which can be done. Despite the turbulence and turmoil that Kenya seems to produce every time that we have elections, we still provide the greatest relative political stability which can drive the economic objectives that we have. I am confident that we have a selection of persons that will take this process a long way. I do not want to get into all of the names but I mentioned people with solid experience and capacity. I have served with Hon. Oburu Oginga and Hon. Abdikadir. They are people who can think through and help us go very far. While we are proposing both Jubilee and NASA candidates, I hope that they will become one once the nine are selected and will presumably have a leader of the team who will pull them together so that jointly, they can become a formidable force. I hope that is the last round that we put in candidates as late as we have done. We must and can do better. We should not perpetuate it every year."
}