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{
    "id": 924867,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/924867/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 153,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mwingi West, WDM-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Charles Nguna",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13445,
        "legal_name": "Charles Ngusya Nguna",
        "slug": "charles-ngusya-nguna"
    },
    "content": "positive balance of trade has been registered in some of the countries we never benchmark, like Russia. We need to borrow a leaf from Russia, not just comparing ourselves with local or regional countries like Ethiopia. If at all we are going to bridge this deficit, our commercial attachés in those different parts of the countries have to pull up their socks. It is worthy to note our cost of production, in almost every sector, is very high. We are talking issues of energy, electricity. It is one of the highest in Africa, if not in the world. It is so expensive to run these affairs. That is why I am saying we still have a long way to go to bridge this trade deficit. The only way to do that is to ensure that our exports are tax free. We have to look into that issue. Corruption in our country has increased every cost of production. When I recall how farmers are incentivised in this country, you really wonder where we are going. When I was growing up, my grandfather used to produce cotton. It was in massive production. These things are no longer produced anywhere in Mwingi West, Kitui County, Machakos County, Makueni County and the Ukambani region. Farmers are not even encouraged to do so because a lot of energy has been geared towards incentivising coffee, tea and fish farmers instead of other farmers. So, as we suggest these ways of mitigating these issues, we have to consider where we went wrong since Independence. With proper mechanism of incentivising the farmers, modernising our transport system and reducing the cost of production, we will bridge this deficit. With these few remarks, I support. Thank you."
}