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{
"id": 1546416,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1546416/?format=api",
"text_counter": 185,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Saboti, ODM",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Caleb Amisi",
"speaker": null,
"content": "made our economy strong. Fertiliser is at the very centre of the “bone marrow” of our economy, which is agriculture. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries led by Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines were at par, or trailing Kenya in terms of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). They all faced the same colonial masters and were all colonised. What made them move a step ahead? It is not that they suddenly discovered minerals or something else. They emphasised on agriculture, which was their strength, just like agriculture is the strength of most African nations. They improved their production, value addition, and maximised profits from agriculture. Apart from making broad coalitions to cater to their internal politics, just like we have a Broad-Based Government to have a conducive political environment to flourish as a nation, they emphasised on local food production that was sold internationally, the textile industry, and bureaucratic institutions that ensured there was no corruption and cabal systems, which have always been our problem as a country. We need not overemphasise legislation on fertilisers. We have enough legislation. It is good this Motion proposes a discourse for the nation to discuss where we are going wrong. It should not lead us into more legislation, Bills, and policies. We have enough. We must cultivate the culture of a nation that wants to flourish, develop, and become an international giant. That culture is missing in our top leadership and it trickles down to the line ministries up to the local level. We must establish a culture of proper leadership; good leadership that determines where the nation is, where it was and where it needs to go. Before you start thinking about legislation, which we have in plenty, we need to establish a country that has a right-thinking leadership from the top. If the leadership is rotten at the top, then we do not expect miracles at the bottom. This is not bottom-up, this is top-down. You have to come from top to bottom. I can see my friend looking at me and almost giving a rejoinder, but that is how we will make our country better. We must start from top to bottom in terms of corruption, the rest of the things can be done from bottom to top, but in terms of corruption and making sure that the proper leadership in this country that directs the country in the right way, we must start from the top. I dare say that we have messed this country right from the top and that is where we need to start. When we say that the fertiliser industry has cartels, why are these cartels flourishing without the top most leadership’s intervention? We must ask ourselves those bitter questions. The reason our African nations are lagging behind is because we never discovered what ails us. The Asian countries discovered and that is the reason they are in the category of developmental states which you can call mercantilism, where the trade surplus makes the country flourish. You can call it Marxism, or capitalism, but all in all you must discover the strength of a nation and develop it from there. To me, agriculture remains the strength of this nation and we must promote it. So, the area of fertiliser is not an area that we need to over- emphasise in terms of legislation, this is an area that needs a good culture of leadership. We cannot have SAGAs all over, consuming our natural resources and resources from our National Treasury without any action. We have SAGAs that exist for production, for research. That is where we need start. We do not need to establish another SAGA when one is already in existence whose primary responsibility is for production of vaccines. We have the Kenya Veterinary Vaccines Production Institute (KEVEVAPI), the Kenya Veterinary Board, the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO), and the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS). We can name many of them, but what are they doing? We need to establish and look at what authority formed these SAGAs, why they exist and what they have done so far. If they do not function, then can we merge them or restructure them so that we do not waste too much of our resources towards moribund organisations. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I support."
}