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{
    "id": 1097141,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1097141/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 654,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kinangop, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Zachary Thuku",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13380,
        "legal_name": "Zachary Kwenya Thuku",
        "slug": "zachary-kwenya-thuku"
    },
    "content": "we are coming from as a country. Today the only land in Kenya that is arable is just 10 per cent, which may not necessarily depend on irrigation. It can naturally be cultivated and bring about produce depending on natural weather patterns. The rest of the country is either arid or semi-arid. Forty-eight per cent of our land is arable. If only we put our heads together and have a body that will irrigate the difference of about 38 per cent that is semi-arid, we will then be sure of operationalising the NIA and ensure that we are food secure. Having access to food is a basic human right that is enshrined in the Constitution. Article 43 of the Constitution articulates very well the issues of economic and social rights, which include the right to food security and adequate supply of food. When His Excellency President Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta was re-elected for the second term, he came up with a very ambitious transformational vision. He stated that he wanted to deal with four issues only, which were christened the “Big Four Agenda.” Top on the list was food security. In order to ensure that we are food secure, and that hunger and famine become a thing of the past, we are now on the right trajectory by bringing to life the NIA. We need to make this Authority operational and proactive by funding it well and ensuring that it is people-driven. It should be people-driven in the sense that people need to identify the areas that need to be irrigated or where irrigation schemes are supposed to be established. I get disappointed with the kind of investments that I see initiated by the National Irrigation Authority. At times I am persuaded to think that they are just merchant-driven. They are not driven by the need to transform and bring about food security as envisaged in the Constitution. Their programmes and projects are designed to deal with the merchant at the end of the day. A case study is the Galana-Kulalu Irrigation Scheme in Tana River. A lot of money has been sunk in that project but what value for money do we get from it? Even as we support this Bill for it to be passed and become an Act of Parliament, we need to have an Authority that has the interests of the people at heart right from the Chief Executive Officer to the Board Chairman and its directors. Going forward, the Board of Directors of some of these organisations should be former Members of Parliament who have the interest of the people at heart because they know what is needed. At times we are very harsh on ourselves. We form these bodies but we do not think about people who have served the communities, who have vision and purpose to transform the areas they have represented. These are people who have been tested, only that such a provision will be seen to be discriminatory! Some of the Board members should be former Members of Parliament because I believe in their capacity."
}