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"id": 1096443,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Gatanga, JP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Joseph Nduati",
"speaker": {
"id": 13338,
"legal_name": "Joseph Nduati Ngugi",
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"content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I come from Gatanga Constituency where we, combined with Hon. (Ms.) Wangari Mwaniki, provide all the water which is consumed in Nairobi, Athi River and Ongata Rongai. All the water which is drunk in Nairobi and all those places I have mentioned, come from our place. So, when I talk about National Irrigation Farmers’ Association which we are not aware about, I am well guided. Despite providing Nairobians with water, Hon. (Ms.) Wangari Mwaniki can confess that we also suffer a lot as people from Kigumo and Gatanga. All the water comes here and we remain with nothing. We neither have drinking water nor irrigation water. As Kenyans continue to suffer and as the people from Wajir suffer, we also suffer the same fate. However, I also want to congratulate the Jubilee Government because it has supported us in other ways which I will mention later. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, one of the challenges we have had in this country regarding irrigation schemes has been lack of enough funding, despite the problems we have with food security. The other challenge has been lack of enough irrigation engineers in this country. We have very few irrigation engineers such that some of the projects which are designed here are not designed by our local people. The Kimwarer and Arror dams were not designed by our local people, that is why we lost a lot of money to Italians. Personally, I propose that we do not need those huge dams and projects. This has been confirmed in our place. The Jubilee Government has done very well in lower Gatanga. They have come up with water pans which are dug in individual farms, small water pans which are done for free and which have really helped our people. They are cheap because with about Ksh200,000, you can do a water pan. I confess that at this particular time in lower Gatanga, I would be giving people food. Today, I am a proud Member of Parliament. When I go to Ithanga or Kakuzi, I am normally given fruits and vegetables showing that even with small projects we can transform our people. Food security has really improved. We should continue with these small projects in Wajir and Maasailand, instead of doing those huge projects which benefit the pockets of a few Kenyans. Let us do small water pans which can assist our people. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, however, one of the challenges that I have seen with those projects has been lack of pumps for our people. We dig water pans but we cannot supply our people with pumps. I propose to the National Irrigation Authority that as they do those projects, because we are doing those projects for very poor communities, to supply them with solar water pumps so that they can benefit our people. The other challenge has been to do with fencing. Fencing has been a challenge because you dig a water pan and you do not provide fencing which becomes a security threat to our kids, to the families and even to the community. The other challenge as Hon. Gideon Mulyungi mentioned has to do with markets. You provide water pans, people are able to produce food and then that creates another problem of lack of market. So, all these things need to be coordinated so that our people can benefit. Again, I want to appreciate the Jubilee Government for the many water pans they have dug in our place. They have also provided us with fish. You can now see that I am a bit lighter than before because of eating fish. Our community has started eating fish. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}