Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1159189,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1159189/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 429,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Ochillo-Ayacko",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "We no longer have such crops and we have done nothing both as County government and the National government to introduce another cash crop. In the absence of all these cash crops, a time has come when we must walk the talk of returning cotton and its profitability to our region and our people. This piece of legislation is the right step in the right direction of engaging our people in the production of cotton. It is the right thing to do in engaging our people in terms of creating jobs in the agricultural sector. What we need to move to as a process after returning cotton growing and profitability, is the value addition. We need to have our young people utilize the cotton that has been grown locally. They should design clothes. We should have manufacturing and designing of clothes and other cotton fabrics by our local people. It is shameful that our Government is more than 60 years old yet we still give accolade to designers from places we have never known. People still wear Tommy Hilfiger and other characters that we do not know whether they come from Embu or Migori Counties. We will never meet them; we celebrate people we do not know. It is time we interest our young people to produce cotton. Secondly, we encourage value addition so that we have agri-based industries which will employ them. Then we encourage them to be local designers so that they proudly wear what has been designed locally. I hear some slogan here “ buy Kenya, build Kenya ”. This should be extended to cotton, sugar growing and milling and fish. It is sad that we buy fish farmed in China. We are not even buying fish farmed in Meru, Nyeri or Kiambu. It travels several thousands of miles to Kenya. It is probably stale but we still buy it. We do not even encourage our own production of fish. We do not brand it. This also goes to areas like coffee and tea. Agriculture is the giant that if we were to wake it up as a nation, we may not have to jump over one another to come and live in small houses in Nairobi. We would live in big mansions. If you go to New Jersey or Montpellier in Northern France, you will see the larger estates of crops that they have and the houses. These would bring development to rural areas. It would increase our national revenue and generally engage us in productive activities. I support this Bill and unreservedly. I encourage those who are seeking the Presidency and myself as the next governor of my area. Once I get into that office, in as far as implementation of---"
}