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"id": 120348,
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"content": "kindly. What Reagan was saying, essentially, is what the last speaker has just said; that we must subsidize our own farmers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we went as a Parliamentary Committee to Germany and we met the Minister for Foreign Affairs, who was talking to us about the East African market and all those things. We asked him one question; why they subsidize beetroot to produce sugar, which is very, very expensive. Why not buy sugar from Kenya, for example? He told us that he knows that it is very expensive and he subsidizes it at great pains, âbut you know, my brothers, if I do not subsidize those farmers, I will not be an MP.â So, they are sensitive to their farmers and to their consumers. There is no country that can survive without being sensitive to those two; you must be sensitive to your farmers and you must be sensitive to your consumers. It seems like when this new philosophy came to us â it is an old one, but I think it was reinforced so much by Reagan - the market place, market forces, market economy and all those things, we left our country open but they have not let their countries open. I have talked about sugar, my brother has talked about cotton and there are others who control their rice in India and Pakistan. There is no way you can feed your people at reasonable prices without any interventions. I want to thank this Government. To some extent, we have tried to intervene in agriculture by supporting the farmers with some seeds and subsidized fertilizer. That could to some extent, be helpful. We have also subsidized them to the extent to which we buy maize at a certain price through the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) so that the farmer knows that if he produces maize, he will sell it at a given price. That is also a way of intervening in the market place. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the price of essential goods needs to be restricted or controlled. Kenya is lucky that we have not had food riots. Try to raise the price of rice in Zambia and you will see what will happen; they have rioted many times. Try to raise the price of food in South Africa and you will see riots. So, I think this Bill is timely. I think we should be bold and tell the world that this is what everybody else is doing. The other day when all banks and all car manufacturing companies were collapsing in America, the Obama Administration intervened with what they called âthe Stimulus Packageâ. It is also called subsidy. So, we should not be shy to intervene. Whether you call it âstimulusâ or âsubsidyâ, it is the same thing. What we are looking at is that we are protecting the farmer, we are protecting employment and we are protecting the consumer. I am sure that is why our place is not very attractive for industrialists or investors. They do not want to come to Kenya for very few reasons. One, our electricity is too expensive. Two, our labour is too expensive. If you go to Bangladesh, their labour is cheaper than it is in Kitengela, Nairobi. The reason why it is cheaper there and they are still tolerating it, is because their food is cheaper and their transport to and from work is cheaper. It is not cheaper by accident; it is cheaper because the Government has intervened. It is by design. When you keep your transport, food and housing cheaper, then pay somebody a dollar an hour, they will accept it because it buys more food and offers them more transport. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, essentially what we are saying is that if we leave our fuel, transport cost, our housing and our food to the market, nobody is going to invest in this country because our workers will riot because the amount of money you give them, which is equivalent to what is paid in Bangladesh, cannot buy the same basket"
}