Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 175470,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/175470/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 254,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Eng. Maina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 75,
        "legal_name": "Ephraim Mwangi Maina",
        "slug": "ephraim-maina"
    },
    "content": "Newspaper carried a headline saying, \"Kenya Has a Bumper Harvest\". I call upon this Government not to go to slumber and ignore the real livelihood of this country. That is the real security of this country. They should step in by coming up with the necessary legislation. The United States of America (USA) will never do that for us. What democracy are we being told about? What are those policies about a free market economy that we are being told about? The other day, the USA gave US$700 billion to its banks. It did not sit back and say that the people messed up the banks and let them collapse. The Federal Reserve Bank stepped in and saved the banks. So, I am asking this Government to wake up and do the same. That is why they are in office. That is why they have the power and are flying flags and have cooks while ordinary Members of Parliament do not have them. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me say that I am fairly clear that I brought this Motion four months ago, and unless something is done by this Government, let them know that Kenyans are used to violence. In January, they tested violence. For heaven's sake, let us not play with the destiny of this country by subjecting Kenyans to suffering. It is the divine duty that a man should be accorded a chance to feed himself. Kenyans wake up to go to work, yet they cannot feed themselves. Who are those cartels that we allow to continue operating? Who is responsible for our food chain? Let us have policies that have the interest of this country at heart in terms of managing our food and our energy resources. Let us have policies that can make this country be productive. There is no area in Kenya which you can call a desert. Rivers are flowing even in Ukambani; examples are the Tana River and Mbagathi River, but we are doing nothing. Can this Government wake up! Let them start with creating legislation, and make food affordable to this country. Let them stop the cartels that are fleecing Kenyans, so that we can have a Kenya that we are all proud of. December 10, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3997 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I hear of Vision 2030. the beginning of Vision 2030 is the feeding of ordinary Kenyans. Let us not imagine or dream of highways or airports. Vision 2030 has to start with the basic provision of commodities to Kenyans. Why is our savings in this country in banks? At one time, we had a policy in this country that 17 per cent of all deposits in banks was allocated to agriculture. These are the policies that we need today so that Kenya goes back to the route of success. Once again, let me thank hon. Members for supporting this Motion and I urge the Government and hope that it will see the intention of the Motion and actually put in place measures for regulating food prices. We should not let this country to be subjected to the whims of market forces, which are nothing but greed by cartels that line their pockets while Kenyans suffer. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I call upon the Government to rethink its policies before this House adopts a different strategy. We are responsible for legislation and nobody should hide under the guise that there is an Act. There has to be a way of going around it and actually saving this nation. When somebody says that the Government has woken up, it has not. It has woken up and told Kenyans that in Kenya there are the rich and the poor. The poor will be eating some flour worth Kshs52 while the rich will be eating flour worth Kshs72. For me, I will be buying the flour for Kshs52 and I hope it is hygienic, though I doubt it. So, let us not just react to crisises but start planning, controlling and managing. With those few remarks, I beg to move."
}