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{
    "id": 1278536,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1278536/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 255,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tetu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Geoffrey Wandeto",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me an opportunity to lend my voice to the Food and Feed Safety Control Coordination Bill. At the outset, something is fundamentally broken as far as the food systems in this country are concerned. The evidence is the disease burden that we deal with as a country. Where I come from, non-communicable diseases like cancer are a major burden. Experts are telling us that this is all because of what we eat. As a developing nation, we eat more and more of what we have not produced. We do not know how it has been produced and where it has come from. As consumers, we rely on upstream players in the food chain to meet their end of the bargain. It is important that every person preparing and presenting food is assured that the food they have put in front of their families and customers has passed the highest safety test. Hon. Temporary Speaker, pathogens like bacteria, harmful hormones, and things like microbiological or antibiotic resistance are very common things that we find in food. There is also adulteration of raw milk. If you buy it in this country, you do not know what percentage of water has been added. You also do not know if formalin has been added to extend its life. This does not only apply to milk but also to other products like meat and poultry. If you look at other products like honey, you cannot tell whether you are consuming honey, molasses, or a combination. This Bill has come at a suitable time so that we can protect our people from the burden of eating contaminated food. We are a country heavy on agricultural exports as a big source of foreign exchange. We are encouraging increasing our exports right now to tame this runaway dollar. Those acquainted with people who export goods can tell you numerous times when their cargo was either rejected or destroyed at the airport or the port of Mombasa or at the ports of destination because of not meeting certain standards. These include the issues one of my colleagues raised earlier - phytosanitary certificates and issues. It also includes the use of banned chemicals and pesticides. Many pesticides in this country come from a few neighboring countries that have been banned in Kenya and our destination markets. Because of corruption, they still find their way into the Kenyan market through panya routes, such as pesticides for spraying tomatoes, cabbages, or other horticultural produce. Most of them are banned, but they are sold to unsuspecting farmers. For us to protect our export market, we must control the pesticides that are being used. We should also ensure that there are sufficient penalties for violation of the law. It is one thing to pass a Bill and another to ensure that the offenders or those who break the law are sufficiently penalised to deter them. Hon. Temporary Speaker, while talking about food and feed, which is the food we eat and the feeds we give to our livestock, there is another very important dimension we need to consider as part of the food system; water. This also needs to find its way into this Bill. We also have to control the quality of water. We have occasional outbreaks of waterborne diseases in this country. Some of them are fatal. We have cholera, typhoid, dysentery, and other waterborne diseases because of the poor quality of our water. We devolved the water function and created numerous water agencies. Who checks to ensure that all water bodies domiciled within the counties give their customers water that is properly treated and, therefore, fit for human consumption? We can ask the proposed food and feed safety controller to add water as part of his brief. 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."
}