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{
    "id": 194812,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/194812/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 154,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Mungatana",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Medical Services",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 185,
        "legal_name": "Danson Buya Mungatana",
        "slug": "danson-mungatana"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, may I take this opportunity to first of all thank Mr. Wamalwa for the excellent manner in which he moved this Motion. I also take note of the subsequent amendment to the Motion. He has mentioned several occasions when the Government came to the aid of farmers by writing off loans through the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) and the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC). 878 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES May 7, 2008 Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, from the outset, I want to say that I support the spirit of the Motion and its intent, which is to assist our farmers, who were affected by the post-election violence. But I also want to make one or two points for this House to consider. As we all know, for a long time, we have from time to time been faced with disasters. Some of them, like Mr. Wamalwa said, were the El Nino, La Nina and other difficulties that have come up. For a response, the Government came up with assistance in form of writing off loans to the farmers, who were affected. Looking at what the ADC is all about, it was set up in 1965 as a Government parastatal. Its main agenda was to promote sustainable development and reconstruction of agriculture in Kenya. The underlying words here are \"sustainable\" and \"agriculture\". We know what in practice they do. They give seeds and loans to farmers. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the other hand, the AFC was set up in 1963. It was incorporated to take over the credit functions of the pre-Independence European and African agricultural boards. Later on, in 1969, the AFC was re-constituted to assume the wider mandate of taking over the functions of the Land and Agricultural Bank of Kenya, which had been set up to assist farmers. These are two lending institutions to the farmers. Today, we are telling them that they must write off all loans. The spirit of this Motion is good, and must be supported. But this Parliament must not always act on a precedents; it has to become innovative. We have very good brains right here. We do not have to go back to precedents that will make us, in another ten years, come back to the same lending institutions and tell them: \"You must write off the loans\". If we pass this Motion today, it should be the last one. We should look for other innovative ways in which we can deal with loan situations that arise a result of unmitigated disasters, be they natural or other forms of man-made disasters. We must come up with plans. This is where the thrust of my contribution lies. This Parliament should not keep repeating what other Parliaments have been doing. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, what have other countries done to find solutions to problems that affect their farmers? The Ministry of Agriculture, and the line corporations like the ADC and the AFC, need to embrace the concept of disaster assistance, which needs to be given to farmers. We have just been very happy to clap for the Ministry of Agriculture for its initiative of making available a Kshs3 billion loan facility to farmers. But if tomorrow we have another disaster - the post-election violence was of our own making---"
}