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"id": 201647,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Odoyo",
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"legal_name": "Peter Ochieng Odoyo",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, coming to Part III which deals with Applications for Approval and Risk Management, once again, we have a long bureaucratic process. While it is correct because of the nature of the application being a highly biological, scientific and environmentally risky element, there should be a two-way process. One to give the Board preliminary assessment over a period of time. Secondly, those who pass at preliminary stage then should be approved immediately. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I was not able to go through many other clauses, I am limiting myself to Part IX, which is headed \"Miscellaneous\". The Miscellaneous part, especially Clause 51, says as follows:- \"The Minister may, in consultation with the authority, make regulations for the better carrying into effect of the provisions of this Act.\" In particular, paragraph (e) is about procedures for genetically modified organisms in transit. The Minister has not put in place what we may call \"the facilities\", especially at our transit points, including border points and international airports. In order for the Minister to be able to put such facilities in place, it may require that certain other Acts be amended, especially the laws relating to immigration, transport and trade, because many of the genetically modified commodities are subject to trade. Some of them are bought and sold. Therefore, the Minister should also have informed us which other Acts will be affected by this Bill. I find that missing in this particular Bill, and I would like to urge the Minister that, in addition to what he has indicated here, he should get his officers to look at the other Acts that will be affected. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, I would like to commend the Minister and caution him that the proposed authority must operate under the vanguard of research. It should not operate at what we may refer to as \"purely local level\". It must operate at international level. It must collaborate with the World Health Organisation and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). It must be an organ of world bodies regulating matters like production of nuclear weapons. It must collaborate with the World Tropical Diseases Institute. It must operate as an international body, although it will be a body set up purely for Kenyan purposes. It is necessary to ensure that the proposed body is not overtaken by research. The built-in obsolescence in research today is such that if you do not operate under the vanguard of research, what you may be thinking will come tomorrow may, indeed, be a thing of the past. Therefore, I caution the Minister that he has to ensure that those professionals who will form part of the board and the management will be people on the outer-level of research and speciality. I note that even though nuclear research is not included expressly, the Minister should look into the possibility of having a representative of the Department of Nuclear Research of the University of Nairobi as a member of this particular Board. As we continue to expand the horizons of mankind, we have to be on the alert. I have had October 3, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 4315 the opportunity of travelling to Western countries as a council member of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). I was appalled at what I saw. The closure of many churches. The decadence of morality in the Western World. I saw too many cases of man and man and woman and woman being legally married. The key words are \"legally married\"."
}