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{
"id": 201684,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/201684/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Konchella",
"speaker_title": "The Minister of State for Immigration and Registration of Persons",
"speaker": {
"id": 322,
"legal_name": "Gideon Sitelu Konchella",
"slug": "gideon-konchella"
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I do not know whether I will be repeating, but I will not take more than ten minutes because I just want to highlight one or two things which I feel are of interest to me and this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of obesity is one of concern to our health today. This is because Kenyans are eating a lot of food that has got hormones for example chicken in town. You will notice that a lot of children are eating this chicken and other foodstuffs which grow so fast because the market requires the supply of these commodities. Therefore, our people are subjected to eat foodstuffs that carry fast growing organisms. In the process, obesity is setting in. This has led to a big health problem thus incurring the nation lots of losses in terms of revenue and medical care. So, when we introduce some of these modified foodstuffs we hope that our scientists will ensure that they are not going to be a source of a health problem in the future. When we look at the societies or countries with a very high Gross Domestic Product (GDP), one of their biggest problem is how to deal with obesity, heart attacks and other blood pressure related diseases. This is mainly due the foodstuffs they eat. This is one of our concerns. I am happy that in the Bill, when you look at the members of this Board, they include scientists who are experts in biodiversity, biological, environmental and scientific issues, so that they are able to ensure we do not contract these diseases. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, another issue is that of the Mathenge shrub. People came to address the problem we have of desertification or loss of pasture for the pastoralists and then they introduced a tree product called Mathenge . I cannot mention its biological name at the moment, but that is how it is known in the market by the people. It has caused a lot of hardship and problems to the people of Baringo District. People are losing their livestock. They are dying because of this shrub which has been introduced from another part of the world. So, one of the things that this Committee should look at is the issue of this Mathenge shrub. I am glad that in this Bill they are saying that they shall control the importation of this shrub into this country and the marketing of this produce and, of course, the growth of all this produce. Now, it is very important that we have a very skilled and knowledgeable Board in this field to control and ensure these things 4332 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 3, 2007 are not introduced into this country because we end up causing this country a lot of problems and our future generations are going to have problems. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of food, of course, is important because we need to feed our people. We have a lot of land and a very good environment to grow food. So, why does this nation not take advantage of this being an agricultural country to actually produce natural substances and foods that we eat in a way that is going to feed our people and even export it to other countries? Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we know of a lot of biodiversity substances in this country today. We need to patent them. You can see a lot of people are coming to look at our biodiversity. In the process they are actually extracting derivatives which end up producing medicines. Look at our Aloe Vera and other products which foreigners are coming to collect in this country. They extract it, modify it and then produce medicines from it which they sell globally. We do not benefit from anything and yet the raw materials come from Kenya. So, can we have the same body to ensure that nobody can extract and take our biodiversity products here for commercial use without the knowledge of this country and that the laws of this country should protect it? So, we want, for example, this Board to ensure that they become the patenting agency also for any biodiversity product that will be of economic value to the rest of the world so that this country can continue to benefit. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, lastly, I just came from Malaysia. I went to look at what is happening in that part of the world. They are now able to produce food without using soil. The process being used is, indeed, incredible. They just collect water from the roof-tops into a tank. Then, through the capillary method, they pipe the water into a pan for each particular crop. So, all you need to do is mix the required nutrients in tanks. The water goes into the seed, which is only held by a rock as an anchor. This means that we actually do not need soil to produce food. We just need a few stones on which to put the seed, apply the required nutrients and you have a clean crop, which does not need to be washed. You can pick and eat it because it is very clean. So, people in urban areas can produce vegetables. For example, the areas where we host refugees are dry, but, so long as there is water and you have the nutrients, you can produce vegetables and other crops for them. So, we can also look into ways of producing clean foodstuffs without soil. With a roof-top like that of this Chamber, we can produce enough food to feed Parliament through the new technology that is now in the offing. That technology has nothing to do with genetic modification of crops. They are just simple crops, but you can feed yourself in your house in an urban area, without using any soil. With those remarks, I beg to support."
}