Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1097154,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1097154/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 667,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Emurua Dikirr, KANU",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kipyegon Ng’eno",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1453,
        "legal_name": "Johana Ngeno Kipyegon",
        "slug": "johana-ngeno-kipyegon"
    },
    "content": " I will do that, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. Remember, the reasons around vaccinations and social distance all surround the question of: are you close enough to infect your neighbour? All the same, I will abide by your direction. I was talking about countries that faced very serious uprisings because of food insecurity. They include France and Ukraine. In Ukraine, they had one of the most severe famines called the Holodomor. It was caused purposely. There was lack of food. It was referred to as an artificial famine because some parts of the country wanted to starve others. They wanted to arm-twist them to believe in their ideology. Food is a very fundamental thing in our lives. People cannot go to work, school nor come to this House to make laws when they are hungry. Like my brother said, it is, maybe, only 10 per cent of our land which is arable. But, around 50 to 60 per cent of this country can be irrigated to produce enough food for our citizens and even for exportation. We have had issues to do with irrigation. The reason I am supporting this particular amendment is this: I think that the introduction of the National Irrigation Authority will go a long way in ensuring the management of the irrigation schemes that we have in this country so that we can have a food secure nation. We have had irrigation schemes in the country that have collapsed or failed in one way or another. There are those which have succeeded and those that have failed. The major failures in the country include the Galana Kulalu and Bura irrigation schemes. We put billions of monies in these schemes expecting that they will produce enough food for our citizens. The introduction of this authority, through the amendment, is meant to ensure that irrigation is done according to the law. The situation we have today in our country of so many unemployed youths, people begging, and many ‘hustlers’ who are working day and night to put food on their table is because we have not sat down as a country. Our country was once referred to as an agricultural country. When you look at what the Government is doing towards making the country food secure, it is absurd! We hope that successive Governments will dwell much on how to bring back this country into the agricultural country we used to know. It should also dwell on how it can bring back the counties which we used to know as the bread baskets of this country. Those other counties which may not even be good producers of food, through the National Irrigation Authority, can be made to produce enough food for our country. Many people have said that if we were to introduce irrigation methods of farming in counties like Narok, Bomet, Kwale, Baringo and other such like areas in this country, we would be food-secure. We could produce enough food for local consumption and at the same time export to other countries. It is absurd that we are importing maize, wheat and even rice from other countries that have a lower percentage of arable land than ours. It may not even be a quarter of Kenya! We are importing food from those countries simply because of poor management in Kenya. We are unable to put our feet on the ground to ensure that whatever money we invest in irrigation schemes, we are able to deliver what our country wants. It is also absurd because when we talk about irrigation, we need to first know where we are going to fetch the water. Are we going to tap the water from rivers, rain, dams, or boreholes? We must also be genuine in our wish to have water for irrigation. Remember there are so many dams in this country that have stalled. Some of the dams which have stalled in this country include the Bosto Dam in Bomet, Itare Dam in Nakuru, Kimwarer Dam in Elgeyo Marakwet, Arror Dam and many others. When you look at the reasons why these dams have stalled it is neither because of money being stolen nor anything to do with management, rather it is because of politics. The Itare 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."
}