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{
    "id": 930621,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/930621/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 338,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mvita, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Abdullswamad Nassir",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2433,
        "legal_name": "Abdulswamad Sheriff Nassir",
        "slug": "abdulswamad-sheriff-nassir"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I want to first of all thank the House for being able to adjourn to discuss this matter of national interest. I equally want to thank the substantive Speaker for ruling that the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Transport appears before the Departmental Committee on Transport, Public Works and Housing. Some of the issues that have been raised regarding this purported directive that was signed by the Commissioner General of the KRA and the Managing Director of KPA, is that all cargo for delivery to Nairobi and the hinterland must be conveyed by the SGR and cleared at the Inland Container Depot, and that all imported cargo intended for Mombasa only shall be cleared at the Port of Mombasa. I just want to bring it to the attention of the country that as per the figures from the National Treasury, the Railway Development Levy Fund (RDLF), from the year 2013 to date, has collected Kshs120.4 billion. Over and above the fact that the SGR is running as a commercial entity, we, as Kenyans, are subsidising its operations through the RDLF. I want to give facts and figures. The number of container freight stations (CFSs) that are within the environment in Mombasa are 23. Statistics show that there are 37,000 people who are directly and indirectly employed by these CFSs. Currently, we have more than 10,000 fleet of trucks in this country. It means, on average, from those who work in offices to the truck drivers, about 40,000 people have been employed. We are not even talking about those who deal in spare parts and related services. We now look at the clearing and forwarding companies. They are now being told to shut down because their clients have their headquarters in Nairobi. All these clearing and forwarding companies will shut down leading to unemployment of thousands of Kenyans who reside within the County of Mombasa and other counties within the Coast region. The economic impact of this development does not tally with the measure of the directive that has been issued by the KPA and KRA. It is important for Kenyans to realise that today we are looking at cargo. If we let this go today, nothing will stop the Government tomorrow from compelling people to travel by the SGR. That means that tomorrow, all the buses that ply these routes will be told to stop operations. It is not an issue of inefficiency. Facts and figures indicate that inefficiency is more when it is used by the SGR than private transport companies. Facts and figures do not lie. The level of logistics available in Mombasa and what is available in terms of handling capacity is much more than what the Inland Container Depot can handle. It is even much more than what 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."
}