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{
    "id": 1179848,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1179848/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 254,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cherarkey",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13217,
        "legal_name": "Cherarkey K Samson",
        "slug": "cherarkey-k-samson"
    },
    "content": "today and the hustlers of Kisumu County are happy and excited to have it. The Fund will be life-changing to many young people with no opportunity to access start-up capital. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I hope Sen. Tom Ojienda can mobilize the hustlers of Kisumu County to seize this Fund which does not belong to either of the coalitions but to all Kenyans from all walks of life. From Garissa to Kisumu, Kakamega, Nandi and many others. This is a straightforward Motion. It is sad that almost 60 years after Independence, we are discussing about food insecurity, famine and drought. I congratulate Sen. Lomenen. I know why he is saying that most of the people from Turkana are good athletes. They must be, with all due respect, running around looking for water and taking care of the animals. No wonder he said the reformed warriors should be given an opportunity to be athletes. He is a ranking Member, having come from the ‘Lower House’. I can see he is learning the ropes very fast in this ‘Upper House’. I hope the people of Turkana are taking notes. These issues that have been brought by the Sen. Lomenen are critical and important to our people. We do not need to belabour the point. Everybody knows that in Northern Kenya and parts of North Rift, there is always a dry season. It did not happen the other day. This is not an abracadabra moment. We have always known there is drought and famine. From 2020, some of the regions have received little rainfall. I was having a discussion over lunch with Sen. Abass and he told me that in his county, some parts have experienced little rain. We do not need rocket scientists to tell us what is happening. The solution to food insecurity is one; take care of the farmer. If the farmer is happy, we subsidize production over consumption, get good yields and seeds, affordable fertilizer, we produce more. When we produce more, Kenyans in Turkana and any part of this country can have food on their table. We are aware that more than four million Kenyans have been facing starvation for some time. I saw a sad story where a child was cooking a chameleon. It is disappointing and distasteful, to say the least. We must be pragmatic as a country on how we can ensure no Kenyan dies of hunger. We cannot talk about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) when we are still talking about hunger. There is a new phenomenon of hunger and starvation within our cities especially on low-income houses in some of these slums. We are having famine and hunger where food is not accessible. The solution is taking care of the farmer. Last week, I said before the nation that if we do not prioritize buying of maize and grains from local farmers, we will discourage them. I am happy the Cabinet Secretary has agreed with us that there is need to give the local maize farmers time to harvest their maize and process it through dryers. Many people do not know about maize. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I heard a senior ranking official in this Government alleging that we should store maize within 72 hours. It is very unfortunate. As a professional farmer, the moisture content of harvested maize is normally 23 per cent. Therefore, we need to dry it, until it lowers to 13.5 per cent. After that, it can be"
}