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{
    "id": 7870,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/7870/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 533,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kimunya",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Transport",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 174,
        "legal_name": "Amos Muhinga Kimunya",
        "slug": "amos-kimunya"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have accepted this challenge and I am happy to note that one of the Committee’s recommendations is that we should be talking the current fertilizer licensee and work out a situation where they either put it into use within the 112 months or we have it revoked. It may well be that the licensee is willing but, perhaps, the politics around the port have not facilitated the licensee to actually operationalise the facility, so that the fertilizer can get to the farmers when they need it and at reduced costs. However, this is something we have taken on board. We have already written to the KPA management and told them to start putting in place a mechanism to advertise for the entire fertilizer handling as a business. Although grain handling is one of the options, people may well come up with new technologies on how to handle fertilizer, so that next year we do not have a situation where the KTDA, and other organizations, import fertilizer, it comes to the port and occupies a berth for a whole month as farmers are wait for it. By the time they access it, the rains have gone. This is the kind of situation we want to avoid. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am glad that the Committee concurs with us. We should work together, so that we can get alternative ways of bringing in fertilizer. As and when we set up our own factories to produce fertilizers, we will reconvert the facility to export our fertilizer. Let me also mention that in our development of the Lamu Port, we are thinking of starting with the first three berths – a container berth, a general cargo berth and a bulk cargo berth. I am happy that the Committee has picked this up. Part of our discussions with Ethiopia is to do with the need to open up the entire southern Ethiopia. If you look at all that area, from Moyale to Addis Ababa, it is very rich in terms of sugar plantations. The Government of Ethiopia has a bigger possibility of expanding sugar plantation in that area; there all the water and the right terrain. All the sugar produced there will be exported through the Port of Lamu. So, we know that the Lamu will target that area and will also handle our imports. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, therefore, I am very happy that we concur with the Committee. I would like to urge the Committee to share their experiences with other Members of the House, so that they can appreciate what is happening at the port, in terms of all the complexities we are facing; in this way we can work out solutions together. I am happy that this is one occasion when we have worked with the Committee and come up with solutions that are good for this country. With those words, I beg to support."
}