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{
    "id": 1292065,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1292065/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 183,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Veronica Maina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Yes, I am next. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, thank you for this opportunity. I want to comment on the Statement brought to this House by Sen. Chesang on the distribution of maize dryers to farmers. A few weeks ago, I brought a Statement on the Floor of this House seeking to know how prepared we were from the county governments right up to the national Government on how we would manage the bumper harvest especially, the grain. Unfortunately, though agriculture is a devolved function, we have not seen any report tabled to this House by the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries regarding the questions that I raised in that Statement. There is a big problem in that because, at the point when I brought that Statement to this House and it was committed to the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, there was no mention of El Nino rain s then. Unfortunately, a few weeks later, which is now, the nation has moved into the preparation for the impending El Nino rains. Do we have a problem on how governance is carried out in Kenya? Yes. We need to have a change and take the law more seriously than we are doing. First of all, at the county level, when the Constitution devolves agriculture to the county governments, does that send any message or signal to a county Government what they should be doing about agriculture? It is high time we started to hold respective county Governments responsible for anything that goes wrong in functions that are fully devolved to them. I am saying this because, when I see a Statement by our colleague Sen. Chesang talking about the Government outlining measures on how maize dryers are being availed to the farmers, we need those measures to be outlined, not just by the mention of the word “government”, it should be outlined by the county governments. County Governments must now take responsibility for food security within their regions. At a particular time, the Senate will have to hold specific county governments responsible for any harvest that comes from within their county, which suffers post- harvest losses. This is because, it is not that God has not blessed the nation of Kenya. Indeed, when we look at the bumper harvest that is coming in, only to have Kenyans complaining after a few months that they have no food, I think we are mismanaging different aspects and devolved functions that have gone to county governments. It should be the pride of every county government to see that they have reserves and stores---"
}