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{
    "id": 157608,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/157608/?format=api",
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    "content": "single day. I think that desperation was very well spoken of by the people who attended Labour Day Celebrations at Uhuru Park. I hope that the leadership of this country – that is we, Parliament, and the Executive – will begin to get really sensitive to these issues and start addressing them accordingly. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me also focus on the issue of food insecurity. Now more than any other time, we have seen a great challenge of famine in this country, to a great extent, caused by ourselves and by nature. It was caused by ourselves because we are endowed with wisdom and the necessary technical know-how to know that there is need to save for a rainy day. There is need to always make sure we have something else aside from depending fully on rain. There is need to have adequate food reserves for the nation. I think we have done none of these. The President talked about the need for us to give more money to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. That is the route to take. That is the right direction. We need to begin to, really, address the issue of how we can ensure that there are adequate irrigation projects across the country. I hope that the Minister for Water and Irrigation will begin to think about how the money that is given to her Ministry will trickle down to the constituency level, and allow every Member of Parliament (MP) to focus on one major irrigation project in the constituency, and also allocate money to each of these constituencies. That way, we can begin to think about how to ensure that we have food even when there is no rain. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, even as we address the issue of irrigation, we also need to realize that we are facing challenges of environmental and climate changes – challenges that we must begin to seriously address. We need to think of how to save our forest cover, and ensure that it gets back to where it used to be. Therefore, reforestation must become a key project by this Government. Even we, MPs, within our Constituencies Development Fund (CDF) allocations, can have some money set aside for tree planting. I was very excited when the two principals – the President and the Prime Minister – said that it was time we had people moved from Mau Forest. I know that some people are extremely uncomfortable with this particular issue, but I urge hon. Members to begin to look at it as a real threat to this country. What we need to do is put a human face to evictions, so that we can move people to an alternative land and compensate them accordingly. I do not think the option of people remaining in Mau Forest, or in any other forest cover or water catchment areas in this country, can be debated any more. It is time for action. I hope that alongside dealing with the environmental issues, we are also going to begin thinking of how to save our rivers, so that people can take care of them and ensure that we save as much water as possible. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, allow me to also dwell on the issue of unemployment of young people in this country. The issue of unemployment is very big. It is a time bomb that we do not know when it will explode. I applaud the President for launching the KaziKwa Vijana project, although we are yet to see its impact at the grassroots level. We are yet to feel the trickle-down effect of Kazi Kwa Vijana project at the grassroots level, where most of the unemployed youth are found. We want to feel that this project is at work in our constituencies. I hope that through this initiative, much more money will be put in the Ministry of Water and Irrigation and the Ministry of Roads, so that more young people can be engaged at that level."
}