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"id": 193160,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/193160/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Kuti",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Livestock Development",
"speaker": {
"id": 60,
"legal_name": "Mohammed Abdi Kuti",
"slug": "mohammed-kuti"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I rise to support this Motion. I would like to congratulate the Minister for Finance for presenting a Budget which is people-friendly or a Budget for the poor. I would like to start by saying that quite a good portion of the Budget touched on the youth, who form a very big percentage of our population and whose plight is also a matter of concern for this nation. The fact that the energies of the young people both in the rural and in the urban areas will be focused towards sports is a very important thing. The Government has allocated funds to the youth to the tune of Kshs1 million to every constituency. This is a very good initiative. We have seen that in this short span that the Government has shown interest in sports, the mood in the country is also changing. Interest in local sports, especially in soccer, is back just like in the old days of glory of the AFC Leopards and other teams in the country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, currently, our young people while away their energies in drugs, be it mild ones like miraa, cigarettes and alcohol to the hard ones like heroine and the rest, because of idleness and lack of engagement. The fact that now in every constituency there will be organised sports, we will redirect those energies and salvage our young people. On the issue of taxing Members of Parliament and other constitutional office bearers, I stand here to fully support the proposal. This would not have come at a better time than this when Kenyans are facing high inflation and increased food prices because of increased fuel costs. It is important for hon. Members, who have been chosen to lead this nation, to lead by example by contributing towards the kitty of improving the economy of this country by paying taxes. I fully support this and especially at this particular time. Coming back to the issues that are affecting my Ministry of Livestock Development, I would like to highlight the fact that the funding to this Ministry is very low. I do not think that Kenyans, especially the Government, have fully appreciated the role livestock can play to the economy, the improvement of household incomes, wealth creation and poverty eradication. During the Colonial Era, the livestock sector had an elaborate system in place. There were disease-prone June 18, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1217 zones of the north where animals were kept. They were tracked from those zones to middle-level buffer-zones called holding grounds. There were various holding grounds across this country. Animals were tracked through specific stock routes. Along those stock routes, there were dips. The animals were de-wormed and vaccinated as they were tracked down from the disease-prone zones to the buffer zones of the holding grounds. When the animals arrived at the holding grounds, they were kept for four weeks, observed, vaccinated and treated for all kinds of diseases. Then after four weeks, they would be declared disease-free. They would then access the ranches on the highlands where the settlers kept the disease-free animals in the disease-free zones. Those animals could then access international and local markets either as live animals sold off or slaughtered and exported as meat, hides and skins. The Kenya Meat Commission then, was a very important instrument that co-ordinated the meat export. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the mid-1980s, we introduced livestock policies that changed all that. We privatised the sector or left the sector to the community. The extension workers who taught farmers on best practices have all been either sacked or removed from the Government payroll. The cattle dips which were being subsidised and cost Kshs5 to dip an animal at that time were left to the communities and privatised. Now, it costs Kshs60 to dip an animal from Kshs5 at that time. There are no regular vaccinations because most veterinaries have either become private practitioners and have, therefore, moved to urban centres where there are lucrative markets for them. The result of this, which we are reaping today, is that instead of us controlling diseases, diseases have gone out of control. We are now being controlled by diseases as we do fire-fighting, chasing after the Rift Valley Fever and the Avian Flu outbreaks and the current PPR outbreak. The Ministry now is reduced to just doing fire-fighting. This Ministry employed its staff last time in 1987. My Director of Veterinary Service, who just got promoted in May, 2008, is retiring in December, 2008. His deputy may even retire before him. So, this is a Ministry on the verge of closure. We changed policies and reneged a very important sector. We are now reaping the negative effects of that. Since 1992, we cannot export meat outside this country. Over Kshs300 billion potential market is lost and now we are only having meat for local consumption. About 80 per cent of the landmass of this country is inhabited by communities that depend on livestock. If we had improved on the colonial policies, today, those areas would be the meat basket of this country. The areas are still the meat basket of this country, but because of the neglect, the sector is far from realising its potential. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as the Minister for Livestock Development, since we cannot make the whole country a disease-free zone, I have identified five disease-free areas or zones and I am preparing a document where technocrats will come up with ways of creating those disease-free zones. Agricultural economists will find the economic sense of it by finding out the cost of establishing the zones, the money value for it or what are the gains in terms of improving household incomes and eradicating poverty. I can see that time is against me, but I would like to conclude by saying that this is a hopeful time for the livestock keepers. I will require the support of the House and the Government to be able to revive this very important sector. Thank you very much."
}