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{
    "id": 836863,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/836863/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 190,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kamukunji, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Yusuf Hassan",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 398,
        "legal_name": "Yusuf Hassan Abdi",
        "slug": "yusuf-hassan-abdi"
    },
    "content": "They are not luxuries. They are essential components in our development. In a very competitive global environment, we need to be there to project, promote and protect Kenya’s interest and image globally. As a country, we have a very ambitious foreign policy to achieve our national goals and aspirations. It is to consolidate our position as a regional power, to assert our role in Africa and in global affairs. That is why we need to continue to support and have our missions, to have the best and the most qualified people with the appropriate competencies to represent us internationally – in the international milieu at all levels. They should be people with specialised knowledge, area knowledge and language skills; people who can stand out there and represent us as a country. We must also have first class support system in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the moment, I am glad we have competent Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary and staff in place. We also need to provide for our ambassadors and the staff we send outside to have the necessary resources to be effective representatives. That is one of our jobs as a Committee and Parliament - oversight. We should keep our chanceries in the best possible condition to have very good and attractive offices that will leave a very good impression with any visitor, particularly now that one of our major pillars of our foreign policy is economic diplomacy. We are no longer begging countries to give us handouts. We want engagements as an equal partner in our economic development. We want investment. We want countries to come here and have manufacturing industries. We want them to have businesses therefore generate and grow our economy. Therefore, we need to put our best foot forward. That is why it is very important. I had the privilege of travelling with the missions that were sent to South Korea, the Republic of China, Japan and Canada. I must say that what we found there, in some of those countries, is quite wanting in terms of equipment, support and offices. In the case of the Republic of South Korea which is an important country, a big industrial power with very strong relations with Kenya and wants to engage with Kenya, we found that we do not own the embassy in Seoul. Since we are going to have a long term relationship with that country, our recommendation is for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our Government to buy the necessary building to have our offices in a good place where they can continue to carry out the good job they are doing. We also think there is a problem in the allocation of resources to the missions. We want the allocation of resources to be increased as well as to be regular so that those embassies can continue to function effectively. Many of the problems in many of those missions are the fact that there is delay in remittances of their budgets. It puts a lot of pressure on the embassies as well as stress on the staff. We would like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Treasury to look at means of streamlining that so that, that problem can be addressed effectively to make our missions much more effective in carrying out their tasks. In the case of South Korea, we feel that our country needs to take full advantage of ICT and to learn from the experiences of such countries that were underdeveloped or were at the same level of development with us some three or four decades ago. We need to learn from their best practices. I think they are very happy to export and exchange some of the technologies they have with our country. We also think that in the case of all these countries that are affluent like South Korea, we do not have a tourism mission there. South Korea has 25 million people who visit different countries as tourists. Even if we were to get a small slice of that, it would be a major contributor to our economy. 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."
}