Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 824464,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/824464/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 471,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tiaty, KANU",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kassait Kamket",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13493,
        "legal_name": "William Kamket Kassait",
        "slug": "william-kamket-kassait"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I also rise to support the Motion. In supporting this Motion, we as the people of East Africa have no choice but to cooperate truly. Cooperation on meteorological services is key in terms of our development as a region. However, there is a problem that we must address as the people of East Africa. Even as I support this Report, it is time the leadership from the Summit to the Council of Ministers, to us as parliamentarians and to the people of East Africa, stopped living a lie. I am saying this because the East Africa Community is generally …I understand the problem of diplomacy. That is the problem that faces all manner of cooperations all over the world. If there is a community that has stagnated over the years, it is the EAC. Even as we speak here, partner States are not contributing what they have to, to the Community. There are a lot of arrears in terms of delayed remittances to the Community. Now, many activities of the Community have stagnated. You wonder what it is that we want to achieve as a region. If you look at those contributions, from the time we began cooperating in 1999 up to now, you will realise that we have had three stages of cooperation. The first one was the Common Market. How sure are we, as a people, that the Common Market is being fully implemented? Are the businessmen and Kenyans able to move to other regions freely? Are we free to move to our neighbours in the south? Are we free, as a people, to do business and work? It is time to stop living the lie that we are living as the people of East Africa. Even for those little contributions we are supposed to make as a region, from 1999 up to now, the figure that partner states contribute has remained the same. Which other body would operate in such circumstances? The figure that was agreed upon in 1999 is the same one today. We even fail to remit our obligations on time yet we expect the East African Community to grow. How does it grow when we are starving it of finances? That is the problem we have and we need to address it. It is time we considered the principle of asymmetry and contributed resources towards that co-operation according to the powers we have and the sizes of our economies. In my considered view, it is also time to consider expanding the mandate of the East African Legislative Assembly. We cannot have the EALA to merely meet. You can see the Council of Ministers deciding to bring more protocols by bypassing the EALA. Even if we are dealing with diplomacy, there is no time a protocol can be better than a piece of legislation. 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."
}