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"id": 176816,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Lekuton",
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"legal_name": "Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I appreciate hon. Ephraim Maina's Motion. This has become a song in the country and this House. We have talked about food prices from the beginning, and we are still talking about food prices now. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is a serious issue and has posed a serious challenge. The Prime Minister and the Minister for Agriculture told Kenyans in a public rally that the prize of maize flour will come down. They even gave the numbers. As a nation of private businesses, entrepreneurship and capitalism, the markets are supposed to correct themselves. In the case where they cannot correct themselves, then the Government comes in and dictates prices. We failed as a country in that case. Our people are being exploited. Maybe, the Government cannot control the cartels. It has failed to say the prices of maize should be this and that. It has also failed December 03, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3821 to state the price of rice as well. We are now operating a very efficient capitalism system here. We fail to understand that the issue of food prices is not facing Kenya alone. It is actually a worldwide problem. We lack focus for many reasons. One, we have never appreciated the fact that we have an increasing population in the world. If you allow me to quote: \"The increased Indian and Chinese consumption is sucking the world dry of grain at the time when supply cartels are seeking biofuel substitution\". We have a world that is trying to get away from fuel - diesel and petrol. They are going for biofuel consumption to make sure that their cars are run on ethanol and other sources of fuel. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, a country like United States of America (USA) has fed Kenya on corn for many years, but they are now using that corn to produce ethanol which is used to run their vehicles. They believe that in 20 years from now, 50 per cent of their vehicles will be running on ethanol, thus depending less on fuel. That by itself is a serious worry. That a country that we were depending on for corn is not there anymore. Also the USA has continued to subsidise its biofuel production at a staggering US$5.5 billion per year. That means that they are encouraging their farmers to grow biofuel products for the production of diesel. They have encouraged their farmers to go outside USA to grow crops in arid areas, so that they can produce ethanol and biodiesel fuel. We have some serious problems with oil prices, and although the price of crude oil has come down by half our prices are still high, because we have not been able to control our own oil industry. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, climate change is another reason why we are having problems. Rains do not come as much as they used to, so we end up producing less maize, rice and other products. All these issues have led to shortage of food all over the world. That one cannot be denied, and I cannot blame the Ministry of Finance or Ministry of Agriculture for it. Those are world-dwide issues that we need to understand, as a nation. The problem is that we have never found homegrown solutions. If the USA can grow corn to produce ethanol, and now 30 per cent of its agricultural land is used for growing of corn for production of ethanol, then Kenya can do that. In Europe soya beans are used to produce gasoline for vehicles. Since we understand that we will not get food from outside Kenya in the next twenty years, what will happen to our country? Have we, as nation, sat down and decided that we shall increase our food production using this or that method? We have always said that we will import from other countries. We have never taken that issue seriously. Bangladesh and Egypt experienced riots because of food shortages and food prices that were high. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know that this issue was directed to the Ministry of Finance, but why are we not developing Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) to produce food while the rest of the world is doing it. Israel decided that they would not get food from any other country in the world. Why would Israel, with a horrible soil, be able to produce food and we cannot? What is it that we are doing wrongly, as a nation, so that we cannot produce food? The other issue concerns the livestock industry. It has failed. The failure has been a culmination of many issues. There are thousands of acres of idle land; it is not used for production. We have a lot of issues that we have to be addressed. I wish that this House was full when we are debating this Motion, because it is extremely important to everybody. I would like to conclude by saying that we need to diversify our food production. Let us use the barren land in Ukambani, Marsabit, Laisamis and other places for production of food. Let us do some serious research on what kinds of food can be produced in those dry areas. Our land is lying idle while the rest of the world is producing food. So, we are in danger. This issue is serious. So, we need to do something about it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to conclude by saying that the very essence of capitalism depends on the forces of demand and supply and the market forces. However, 3822 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES December 03, 2008 when we have forces that do not obey the forces of demand and supply, there tends to be corruption and artificial shortages that are created by men and maybe supported by other forces. Mr.Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to say this to the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Agriculture: If the supply and demand of the Kenyan market system is not efficient enough to help our country and our poor people to be able to buy food, then the Government should intervene. I am sorry to say that the markets will fail because of systems that cannot be contained. Thank you very much."
}