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{
    "id": 193190,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/193190/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 175,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Maina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 75,
        "legal_name": "Ephraim Mwangi Maina",
        "slug": "ephraim-maina"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Kenya has a few banks that are today not contributing to agriculture. In the 1960s, in this country every bank followed a certain Government regulation. They had to lend a certain percentage of money to the agriculture sector. The four main banks, as we know them today, can still do the same. They have even said that they will be lending money to corporates. Who will develop the agriculture sector in this country in order to solve the food problem? That can only be done if we get Africans running these institutions. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is high time this country came up with national virtues that will make Kenya develop. This country seems to be following polices that have very little to do with the indigenous interests of this country. This issue of the high capital base for setting up banks is just one of them. It is locking out Africans of dreaming of ever owning banks. I 1224 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 18, 2008 beg the hon. Members not to support this idea of raising the operating capital base for bank licences to Kshs1 billion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am an engineer by profession. The money allocated to the Ministry of Roads for infrastructure is extremely disappointing. I do not know whether hon. Members or Kenyans know from 2003 to 2007, out of the total amount of money that was spent on roads, 97 per cent went to non-Kenyan companies. That industry could have employed a lot of Kenyans, but it is unfortunate that only 3 per cent of that money was put to Kenyan companies. Companies come here and open offices, money is then channelled from New York to their offices in Germany. I heard nothing in the Budget or a proposal by the Minister towards encouraging our own people in setting up some of these companies. It is the trend and norm in this country. I stand to be proved right or wrong, that Kenya will not come out of the doldrums of poverty that we are witnessing unless we make a bold decision. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, last time when I was contributing in this august House, I quoted President Roosevelt. Today, I want to quote our first President who used to say that \"Kenya is for Kenyans\". He came up with policies that encouraged our people to start small industries. That is why we see some few Africans today standing up with some strength. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the issue of water, it is a pity that this country cannot feed itself. Zimbabwe which used to be a very prosperous country in agriculture gets rain only once a year. Kenya gets rain twice a year. However, Zimbabwe had perfected their irrigation. I see my friend here looking at me. I do not know if he knows that the land in Ukambani could feed this country. The money allocated for irrigation in this country is peanuts. Out of the Kshs10 billion we are using today to import food, if we had used only Kshs2 billion of it in Ukambani by building canals, maybe we would have had enough food today for our people."
}