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{
    "id": 837003,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/837003/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 330,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kisii CWR, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Janet Ong’era",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13117,
        "legal_name": "Janet Ongera",
        "slug": "janet-ongera"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity so that I may also support this Motion. From the outset, I take this opportunity to congratulate our Vice-Chairlady who moved this Motion, the Member of Parliament for Lamu County, and also the Seconder. This Report is very timely for us as a Committee to highlight to this distinguished House the problems and challenges that we see in the one-stop-border post. While, this was a very noble task that the Government initiated to have the one-stop-border post, quite a number of issues have arisen or have not been addressed by the Government so that the one-stop-border post becomes a great reality. I wanted to contribute on one of the issues that we noted in the border post of Isibania in Migori County that the Mover and the Seconder did not highlight which is lack of water. It is a very easy thing. We urge KRA to sink a borehole so that we can have clean water and clean sanitation for the workers around this post. Secondly, there was the issue of a harmonised legal system. We urge that the partner- states consider having a harmonised legal system. We mentioned this yesterday when we submitted the other report. One of the areas in which we want to have a harmonised legal system for immigration and customs management is in the area of a harmonised tax system so that when Kenya is speaking about taxes, the same language is being spoken in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and the other member-states. Currently, this is not the practice. You saw that our President passed that very noble idea particularly here in Kenya where there is the free movement of trade and persons so that people do not have to come with their passports. You find that this is not the case in other partner-states. We urge that the protocol that was signed in Uganda now becomes a reality in the other partner-states. There is also the challenge of security particularly at this one-stop-border post. We noted that there was human trafficking in the past and there are still on-going incidents because there are vast areas where there is no manning. You noted that our chairlady ably stated that the distance between the Isibania Border Area of Control and the next border entry of Namanga is 297 kilometres. Those areas are not manned. As a result, there is a lot of proliferation of human trafficking particularly going to Ethiopia and Sudan. We urge that security is tightened and made a reality in this border post so that there is safety of our people in terms of human traffic and safety in trade of goods. There is another point which the Seconder mentioned and this is the challenge of the local community not being given preferential treatment when it comes to contracts in this one- stop-border post. It is a shame that you find that the locals are not considered particularly in cleaning contracts that have no technical value to them. One of them is cleaning contracts and sale of curios. We found this really wanting and urge the KRA to see how they can involve the local communities so that public-private dialogue becomes a reality between the Government and the local business communities. Finally, there is need for the Ministry of East African Community and the Northern Corridor Development to fast-track efforts to harmonise policies in order to facilitate cross- border trade within the region. With that, I beg to support the Motion. 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."
}