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{
    "id": 924882,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/924882/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 168,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Godfrey Osotsi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13172,
        "legal_name": "Godfrey Osotsi",
        "slug": "godfrey-osotsi"
    },
    "content": "the other sugar companies which are on their deathbed. We cannot be talking about the Big Four Agenda, particularly manufacturing, when we are watching as our industries particularly Mumias Sugar Company which was one of the leading tax givers in this country on its deathbed and very little is being done to revive that industry. This Motion also seeks to implement competitive export promotions strategies. We have several institutions that are supposed to be doing this work of promoting export. We have Export Promotion Council, Export Processing Zones and the Brand Kenya. We hear very little of these institutions. It is high time this Parliament interrogated these institutions that are spending taxpayers’ money and we are not seeing their impact because that is what they are supposed to be doing. The other very important thing is that, as one of the Members said, trade deficit sometimes is not a necessarily a negative thing. We know that the USA has had the highest trade deficit in the world since 1975, but they are still an economic giant. This is because they consume more. Their level of preference for goods and services is very high, and therefore there is need to export more goods to the country which is portrayed as having higher standards of living. That is not the case for Kenya. Ours is negative because we import more than we export. When you look at it, you will see that it is affects the level of unemployment because it means when you import more, you are promoting industrialisation in the other country. You are basically outsourcing jobs in the other country, therefore creating unemployment in your country. So, it is a negative thing to this country. One of the speakers talked about having a relook at our foreign policy. I want to agree with Hon. Wamalwa that our foreign policy is not promoting investment. We have our ambassadors who are largely political. We need to ensure that when we appoint people to represent us in our missions, they must be people who understand what we call economic diplomacy. They can sit down with leaders in other countries and talk trade and bring more investment into this country. We should also look at how we can use our Diaspora, Kenyans living in foreign countries, to promote trade. Other countries have done that successfully. China, Brazil and even Ethiopia, our neighbour here has done so well. We could use people who live in those countries and who understand the environment to make trade deals on behalf of this country. That will help us improve our trade deficit. We have also realised that one of the countries that we trade largely with is Uganda. One, because of proximity and two, because they are using our port in Mombasa. That tells you something. It tells you that opportunities for trade are available in Africa. We need to maximise the trade opportunities available in Africa by promoting infrastructure within the countries in Africa and also ensuring that the bilateral and multilateral agreements we have make sense. This country is in so many agreements. We are in Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), East African Community and the new one called the African Continental Free Trade Area. What is the benefit of all these agreements when all these countries are in almost the same geographical area? The recent one offers an opportunity for us to offer free movement of goods and services between countries. It makes no sense that an African country which wants to export to another African country has to fly goods to Europe then back to Africa because we do not have proper arrangement on infrastructure and movement of goods. I want to thank the African Union for putting a lot of focus on infrastructure development. There are plans to have Trans-African roads and railways and that will improve trade among African countries. Lastly, is the management of trade department in Government. During the last regime of President Kibaki, we saw a lot of focus on the Ministry of Trade and there were very competent 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."
}