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{
    "id": 924938,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/924938/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 224,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ugenya, MDG",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. David Ochieng’",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2955,
        "legal_name": "David Ouma Ochieng'",
        "slug": "david-ouma-ochieng"
    },
    "content": "No.186. Currently, we have a very robust document called the National Export Development and Promotion Strategy adopted last year with the main aim of promoting exports. We live in a country where we like comparing ourselves. When you hear politicians campaigning, they say the way Kenya, South Korea and Malaysia were at the same level in the 1960s and 1970s. They will also tell you that these counties had the same policies at that time. I want to tell this House that the major difference between us and the rest of the world is that we talk too much, but we do not implement or have intentions of implementing our policies. I have given these reasons before this House before. That when South Korea was implementing export substitution projects and programmes in the 1980s and early 1990s, we were implementing fake gold scams. That is why we have been talking about the Goldenberg scandal all these years. South Korea and Malaysia had the same policies saying, if you export more, we are going to give you rebates and compensate you for exporting more. What happened in Kenya? People used to export air and claim compensation. We do not expect to move any further. I have seen Hon. Waluke asking for more policies. We have enough policies in this country. What is lacking is implementation. This brings squarely the role of Parliament in export promotion. Let us not pass the buck and try to say someone else should do it. Parliament is a very important body even in budgeting. If we realise that what is lacking is support to small-scale farmers, small-scale producers and small-scale industries, why can we as Parliament not budget and allocate resources to ensure that this strategy for promoting exports is implemented in the right way? Our policy makers are not making the Executive accountable for the monies we are giving them to promote exports. I am happy we are debating this at the end of July. This Parliament has just approved a Kshs3 trillion Budget. We are going to be passing the Division of Revenue Bill probably this week and next week. The budget we have is laden with a lot of procurement by the Government. Every two years, you will hear the Government saying we are going to promote, buy Kenya build Kenya . But, if you went to some offices that we have in this Parliament today, you will find that all the furniture there is imported. All the carpets there are also imported and even the tiles we use. We are putting up new Parliament building across the road and the cement for building it is imported. We are importing everything. That is why we hope that over time, through importing things, we are going to sort out trade deficit. It is not possible to sort out trade deficit if we import everything and anything. Kenyans have a very weird DNA. Sometimes I wonder. We love foreign things like clothes, shoes, toothpaste and everything that is foreign. So, we cannot…"
}