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{
    "id": 155683,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/155683/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 610,
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    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "The authority given by the Treasury vis-a-vis what was imported defers remarkably with well over 20,000 tonnes. Part of that consignment is what hon. Members were debating this morning. I will be laying on the Table several reports describing the consignment and what went on with it. However, in observing time, and noting that I still have over 50 minutes to go but this sitting might be ending in the next five minutes, I must say that we received evidence that 90 per cent of the food imported was Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). I will be defining GMO and laying on the Table over 20 authorities to show how useful or harmful the GMOs are. Most importantly, I will be asking the Government and specifically the Prime Minister, who is the Chair to the adhoc committee, why in a contract that is strictly against non-GMO products, they allowed GMOs to come in and at very exorbitant prices. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we will be laying on the Table Reports from the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), which will show clearly that at no time was maize over US$400 per metric tonnes anywhere in the world. We will further be laying on the Table documents to show that some civil servants - I want to thank those civil servants who stood firm - were thoroughly intimidated into accepting substandard goods, notably KEBS. We will be seeking that some of these civil servants, particularly the Chief Executive Officer of KEPHIS be protected as a witness. He is working under a Permanent Secretary who wrote a letter, which went against KEBS standards and ordered that they do 14.5 per cent moisture. Imports are regulated by standards, which are set, and we will be laying on the Table those standards. Obviously, he could have used other authorities but at that moment in time, it will be up to the House to decide which standards we should use; either those from Kamalajul or the ones from London or ours, which are from KEBS. This is a very sad moment for Kenyans. It is not an accident that we have famine today. This is a design by individuals, and I hope that hon. Members will refrain from personalizing this issue as we deal with more serious issues of policy such as the creation of Strategic Grain Reserves (SGR) stores and creating a second and third grain bulk handling facility and restructuring all the Ministries which are involved with food matters so that at the end of the day, Kenyans are guaranteed of having some food on their table. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I will seek your indulgence so that when I present this document, hon. Members will have enough time to look thorough it and make the necessary interrogations. Food shortage in Kenya and famine for that matter is man-made. Kenyans are watching us. We are being recorded. Those 6,053 metric tones of maize may not be in the state that the House is being told here. That maize was"
}