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{
    "id": 1200027,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1200027/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 328,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "North Horr, KANU",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Adhe Guyo",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I would first like to thank the Almighty God for giving us the opportunity to be here. Secondly, I would like to thank my family, and the great people of North Horr for electing me to this august House. I want to contribute to the current Motion on the Floor on the issue of drought. Drought has become a vicious circle. It happens every two years, and continues to claim lives, and the livelihood of the people. Unfortunately, drought has become the order of the day. In my constituency, people are dying. In the past week, five elderly people have died. It is not an exaggeration, but a reality. About 70 per cent of the livestock have already perished. Unfortunately, the kind of intervention we are seeing on the ground is quite insignificant looking at the impact of the drought. Hon. Deputy Speaker, looking at the current trend, we foresee a situation whereby, come December, we will not have people to represent. We will only have rocks and sanddunes to represent. It is high time this House acted and came up with a special House Committee to look into the issue of drought in this country. Some schools have been closed and others are running intermittently. So, basically, there is a real danger. If the Government will not take any action, we are going to lose the entire population in northern Kenya. I would like to appreciate and commend the efforts of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). Were it not for them, we would have lost the entire people in northern Kenya and other ASAL counties. The UN agencies and donor communities have been fast- tracking and proactively moving forward by providing live saving interventions for the people in northern Kenya. Hon. Deputy Speaker, the resources that NGOs are using come from foreign governments. I do not see the reason why local NGOs in this country are not financed by the Kenya Government. If foreign countries are able to entrust their resources with the local agencies, why then can the Government not entrust its own local institutions to provide resources and services to the people? They have proved to be efficient, proactive and it is high time they looked outside the box to see to it that by being effective, they need to be supported because they have gone extra mile to reach areas where the Government is not able to. We have been talking about the issue of drought year in, year out. There is a lot of potential in the ASALs counties. If Egypt as dry as it is is able to export fruits, rice and other food products, why is Kenya not able to produce its own fruits and food to feed its people and export extras to other countries yet we have more potential than Egypt and other dry countries? What this country needs is to think outside the box. They should know that ASAL areas have a lot of potential. People think that northern Kenya and other ASAL counties lack capacity to produce food. Look at what is happening in Galana-Kulalu Project, although it was mismanaged, we have no similar projects in all the counties in this country. If it was properly managed, we would afford to feed our own people and export to other countries and earn foreign exchange. While we are enjoying air-conditioned House here, our people are languishing in hunger and dying. It is not an exaggeration and it is high time we thought about how we can support our communities by coming up with special House Committees to look into this issue of drought. It is a disaster that is taking lives and livelihoods. Through your 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."
}