Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 178546,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/178546/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 306,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Onyonka",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 128,
        "legal_name": "Richard Momoima Onyonka",
        "slug": "richard-onyonka"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I am actually happy and delighted to have heard such wonderful comments from my colleagues. The truth is that there is a problem out there. Many Kenyans are beginning to be very insecure and uncertain because of the food insecurity issue that exists in the country. Through the Chair, I would like to ask my fellow hon. Members, that if need be, as Dr. Eseli has mentioned, a Committee be given the responsibility to go deep into the issue and find out what exactly has been going on. That may most probably be the case. But at the same time, I think that the interpretation that I am giving the scenario is that, if you look at our country today, there is a problem. Very many of our people have become very poor not because Kenya cannot afford to feed her own people, but because of mismanagement of our affairs. We have mismanaged the way we grow our food, give it out to the poor and do business. Since Independence when some of us were born, why does this country not have a factory that manufactures fertilizers? Since Independence, this country does not have a food policy where we can have millions of tonnes worth of food which is kept just in case it does not rain tomorrow. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have mismanaged this country. I ask fellow Members in this House that the conscience of the public is directly bestowed upon ourselves; to make sure that we change the way we have been doing business. We cannot do business as usual. There is an African saying: \"When you go to an African home you learn those people and understand who they are. If you see people who keep their poor well, then you will respect those people.\" We do not treat our poor people well. Lastly, I would like to ask this House--- I am happy that the Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources was here and I had whispered it to him. But I will repeat it because I know that he will get the report. Could we, please, just the way Uganda has done, get a safety net in this country, where we are able to give very poor Kenyans a certain stipend, on a monthly basis so that they are able to feed themselves, because many of our people are not able to afford a single meal a day? The culture of us mismanaging our business has to stop. I believe that Kenya has the capacity and capability and we will have to change this country. Thank you."
}