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{
    "id": 1057835,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1057835/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 38,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Nyamunga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 738,
        "legal_name": "Rose Nyamunga Ogendo",
        "slug": "rose-nyamunga-ogendo"
    },
    "content": "As it is today, it is very difficult to find any woman with vegetables because we buy everything from the market. If you consider the issue of chicken and eggs, I did a study on the eggs we consume in the country. I discovered that in Kisumu County alone we consume 12 million eggs. A total of 12 million eggs multiplied by Kshs10 is about Kshs120 million that goes to Uganda. I know that we should be trading with Uganda, but I do not think we should be trading with them on basic things like eggs and chicken. I do not want to blame the COVID-19 pandemic for lack of food in this country. There is a general lack of commitment or focus on how to provide Kenyans with food. The Government should take it upon itself to follow up on this. One of the Agenda Four items by the Government is food security. Even so, when I go to the village, I do not see anything that the Government is doing to show that the Agenda is food security. For example, the issue of irrigation is still left at the national Government. Issues of agriculture and food security are supposed to be handled by the county governments. What is water and irrigation doing at the national level? Mr. Speaker, Sir, if we have to be serious with devolution in this country, what needs to be devolved should be fully devolved. For instance, food security or agriculture should be devolved, including water supply, so that the county government can be entrusted with the supply of irrigation. The national Government is still stuck with irrigation and they were saying that they are doing that because one of the agendas that they have is food security. They want to make sure that there is irrigation up to the lowest level. They were talking of a quarter an acre, half an acre and one acre, and that any land lying along rivers was supposed to have been supplied with irrigation kits, so that this irrigation helps with food security. On the ground, that is not going on. I will not blame the issue of food security on the COVID-19 pandemic. It has nothing to do with this. Kenya has not been serious when it comes to issues of food security. Our children cannot learn. Right now, we should be thinking of how to support our children to have lunches in their schools because most children do not take breakfast or lunch. Sometimes, even at supper, they just take a cup of porridge. If we cannot provide food for our people, and we want to sit at the international table with people who sorted out that problem a long time, I think we are not getting our priorities right. The issue of food security is very serious. Food in the rural and urban areas is very expensive. Our people cannot access food of their choice. When I was getting into politics, I did so with the premise that women should put food of their choice on the table. However, that is far from it. We cannot achieve that if there is no seriousness. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I thank you and support the Statement by my colleague, Sen. Khaniri."
}