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{
    "id": 794427,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/794427/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 226,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Onyiego",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1417,
        "legal_name": "Silvanus Osoro Onyiego",
        "slug": "silvanus-osoro-onyiego"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Deputy Speaker, I beg to move the following Motion: THAT, this House adopts the Report of the Departmental Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations on the consideration of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA); and the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) Agreements, laid on the Table of the House on Thursday, 26th April 2018 and pursuant to Section 8 of the Treaty Making and Ratification Act, 2012, approves the ratification of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) and the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreements. On 29th March 2018, the Leader of the Majority Party in the National Assembly tabled on the Floor of the House a Cabinet Memorandum on the ratification of the following agreements: One, the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement pursuant to Section 8 of the Treaty Making and Ratification Act, 2012; and two, the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) agreement pursuant to Section 8 of the Treaty Making and Ratification Act, 2012. Once ratified, the agreements shall become part of our Kenyan laws as provided for in Article 2(6) of the Constitution, which provides that any treaty or convention ratified by Kenya shall form part of the laws of Kenya. The agreements were subsequently committed to the Departmental Committee on Defence and Foreign Relations for consideration and report to the House. In considering the agreements, the Committee held a total of two sittings. Pursuant to Article 118(1)(b) of the Constitution on public participation and Section 8(6) of the Treaty Making and Ratification Act, 2012, the Committee placed advertisements in two local dailies on 19th April 2018 requesting for submissions of memoranda on the subject matter. There was no response from the public. However, as part of public participation, the Committee held sittings with representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade as the key stakeholders in this matter. These agreements aim at improving intra-regional trade and intra-African trade through the establishment of a larger market with a single economic space and to address the challenges of multiple memberships with trade blocs. Let me highlight what AFCFTA stands for. In January 2012, the Assembly of Heads of State and Governments of the African Union during its 18th Ordinary Session held in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, took a decision to enhance intra-African trade by endorsing an action plan for boosting intra-African trade and agreeing on a roadmap to establish a continental free trade area. This initiative is in line with the objectives and principles as stated in the Abuja Treaty, which is to promote the economic and social developments and integration of the African economies and to establish national, regional and sub-regional institutions that lead to a dynamic and interdependent African economy. This paves way for eventual establishment of the African Economic Community. The action plan is also a project of the African Union under its Vision 2063, which is a strategic framework for the socio-economic transformation of the continent in the next 45 years. Subsequent to the 2012 decision, the African Union held several negotiations which culminated with the signing of the Agreement establishing the AFCFTA, Protocol on Trade in Goods, Protocol on Trade in Services and Protocol on Rules and Procedures on the Settlement of disputes and their respective annexes in Kigali, Rwanda on 21st March 2018. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}