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{
    "id": 1184366,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1184366/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 401,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Starehe, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Amos Maina",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13283,
        "legal_name": "Charles Kanyi Njagua",
        "slug": "charles-kanyi-njagua"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Temporary Speaker, I strongly object to this idea because if we were to be given an option of cheap GMO foodstuffs, we will be forced to consume them because of the food scarcity that we are already experiencing. We will be the most affected. People in Nairobi are currently suffering from lifestyle diseases due to lack of healthy regimes whereas people in the rural areas have an opportunity to exercise as they till the land. In Nairobi, life is so constricted because we live on a hand-to-mouth economy where you only get time to work for what you need. We always work from 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. on a daily basis while others work for more hours. So, even our lifestyles are not that good. Now that we are introducing GMO foodstuffs in the country, I can only imagine the devastations that such foodstuffs will have on the people of Nairobi. Hon. Temporary Speaker, as Members can see, there are already people who are struggling with lifestyle diseases. Cancer has become a very emotive issue in Nairobi. We lose people every day. Even the thought of introducing GMO foodstuffs, which are associated with cancer, is sickening. In the last one week, I have lost two patients to cancer. People lost their lives in a very painful way. Even the mention of introducing foodstuffs associated with the spread of cancer does not sound well in the society. Importing GMO maize is the most retrogressive idea that we have had as a country. We have enough land which people can irrigate and grow maize to sustain this country. We have had the Galana-Kulalu Irrigation Project, which some Israeli scientists had proposed. If we were to grow maize in that area, we would sustain our country in terms of food production. I do not know where such progressive ideas have gone to. This current Government came into power on the basis of a promise to subsidise food production. If that spirit were to be followed through, we could be having such projects being inaugurated so as address the issue of food shortages once and for all. We are still importing our country’s staple foodstuffs when we should be going the manufacturing way, and this shows that we have got our priorities wrong. Before we think about manufacturing, we should be able to sustain ourselves in terms of food production and food security. With those remarks, I support the Motion by Hon. Kirwa to protect farmers as we reject the introduction of GMO foodstuffs in the country."
}