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{
    "id": 994160,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/994160/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 254,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Farhiya",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13179,
        "legal_name": "Farhiya Ali Haji",
        "slug": "farhiya-ali-haji"
    },
    "content": "In terms of socioeconomic difficulties that this country is facing, I always say that if there is any stimulus that you do, please, never use food. Do not distribute food because it is expensive and prevents people’s choice. If I wanted to eat sukuma wiki and you give me spinach, you take away my choice, although maybe it will give the same nutritional value. Some people do not eat certain foods culturally. Also, the cost of sending money is far much cheaper than the cost of transporting the food to whichever places. I am pro-choice. If you give people money, they will stash some of it somewhere and start a small business when the economy starts picking. We are introducing cash to the economy, which will start circulating to our people. As a result, money will change hands, create jobs and business opportunities, which will contribute greatly to the GDP. The advantages around COVID-19 pandemic are enormous. For example, the environment is clean. There is a lot of reduction in pollution. We look at things from their adversity, but there is always an opportunity in terms of what comes out of them. Our country needs to take advantage and exploit natural energy. The other issue that is related to COVID-19, which many people are not speaking to, is our Government asking for debt relief from our development partners. The impact of COVID-19 is creating economic hardships to many countries of world, including the most developed countries. Therefore, nobody expects us to be different. It is high time our Government reached out to them to write-off some of the debts. If for some reason they cannot, let them give us a grace period of a minimum of 10 years. We need to create enough cash-base to be able to restart our economy. Surely, you cannot pay what you do not have. I am sending a message to our Ministry of Finance to start negotiation with the development partners on how to settle debts. We want to develop a relationship with them, so that we get a grace period of a minimum 10 years. They could also write-off our debts, so that after this pandemic, we start on a clean slate and be able to recover as a country. One of the reasons Kenyan manufacturing is very expensive is the high cost of electricity. If we can do a little investment in wind and sun energy and harness thermal energy, which is on-going, we can move our country forward. The other opportunity is that we, as a country, can grow cotton and revive our industries such as Kisumu Cotton Mills (KICOMI) and Rift Valley Textiles (RIVATEX). Cotton is in high demand all over the world. These industries can only be revived if there is reduction on the cost of electricity. Those industries used cotton to make a variety of woven fabrics, clothing and other items. If we grow cotton, our industries will be at par with others in the world and compete in the global market. I do remember we used to see very fine and pure cotton bed sheets from Ethiopia and Uganda. Today, that quality is not there. We need to take advantage of it in terms of beddings, pure cotton and other materials. I see an extremely high potential in terms of creating jobs, reviving industries and farmers getting markets for their homegrown products. Demand is created by improving those industries. In terms of opening up our economy, I saw the other day the President giving an indication that he might consider opening up the economy. I think that is a great move. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}