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"speaker_name": "Sen. Halake",
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"content": "Bill. ‘Mung’ is a word that we all have had to go into our dictionaries to find. In terms of language being dynamic, and is better used when you understand it, and no description is relatable to, I do not know why we do not just call it The Ndengu Bill. Sen. Wambua, I do not know why we have to go into a language that is not used so much. If there is any opportunity, we can just call it ‘The Ndengu Bill’ and the ‘mung’ can be put in brackets, if it has to. Please, consider this, so that we can go to our mothers and explain to them how nutritious this is or how we should be supplementing the feeding for our children with ndengu . We do not have to translate the word. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, that said, 26 per cent of our children in this country are stunted. The 26 per cent of the stunted children are mostly in North Eastern Province and the Rift Valley. I know this because I worked for the Red Cross for a very long time. I can relate to the shame of hunger more than anybody else, because I dealt with children that you could literally carry with one hand because they were wasting away. Acute malnutrition and Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) wastes our children and their brains. We will have a generation of children that cannot think above average in terms of the height, weight, and we may have a population of this country that is going to need support as opposed to being productive members of society, and bringing socioeconomic prosperity to our country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as much as this Bill may just look small or a cereal Bill, it is a very important one. I have sat here waiting to speak to it. I came back from somewhere; I have been up and down. If there is one thing we need to be serious about is food security in this country. When a country is food insecure, its future is in jeopardy. Whenever a child is hungry, the women have to complement breastfeeding for almost 24 hours. What happens is that we have a child who is wasting, but also have a mother who cannot bear other healthy children, and the viscous cycle continues. The shame of poverty, hunger and not being able to feed your child is borne mostly by the women. For me, this Bill is so important, sacred, and is the answer to what we need in this country as women and children, where 26 per cent of all our children under 5 years old are malnourished and wasting away. Disparities between counties is different. In parts of the country that are more affluent, it is 4 per cent, but in counties like Isiolo and Northern Kenya, Eastern Province and Kitui West where Sen. Wambua comes from, it is 14 per cent. Therefore, you will see how dire the situation is. I am glad that he has also linked it to a school feeding programme. That is a fantastic idea. This is why our second President, President Danile arap Moi, thought of the school feeding programme; maziwaya nyayo . This time, “ ndengu y a Wambua ” will become a legacy that you will be very proud of. Thank you very much, Sen. Wambua. I know there are a few colleagues who want to speak to this, and therefore, I do not want to speak too much on it. However, for once in this country, 3.4 million people in 2017 had acute food insecurity, especially pastoralists like ourselves because of the drought and the climate change that is ravaging our counties. The Ndengu Bill is an answer. It is going to become a supplementary food for all of us. Even our animals can be introduced to ndengu . Why not? In Mexico, farmers have 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."
}