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"id": 201690,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kagwima",
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"legal_name": "Francis Nyamu Kagwima",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I want to, very briefly, make a few points in support of this Bill. For five years, between 1992 and 1997, I was in the Ministry of Technical Training and Technology. I spent those five years talking and listening about this subject. In fact, in 1997, I led the Kenyan Delegation to the International Symposium on Biotechnology in Algiers. Two years ago, we were in Japan, Taiwan and those other Eastern countries, as a Members of the 4334 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 3, 2007 Departmental Committee on Education, Research and Technology. So, I want to echo what Mr. Muite has said, namely that we should not, really, dwell on the fear and stop the advancement of this technology, or adoption of the same, in this country. What we need to do quickly is ensure that we have means of monitoring the foodstuffs, or whatever else we fear may be having substances that may affect the normal growth of our people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) should be strengthened in terms of human resource and equipment. It should be able, at any one time, to check and test those substances to know whether we are safe or not. Probably, we should move part of it to the area of importation. We should have a branch at the Port of Mombasa so that it can quickly sample and check the items that are being imported. Apart from genetically modified foods, even the foods that Mr. Muite has quoted, those that grow in areas that are not fit for crop production, we should be able to test them locally. That way, we will be sure that the imported and locally grown food is safe for our people. Therefore, we need to intensify in terms of human capacity and equipment. Probably, in the next financial year, we should request the Minister for Finance to allocate enough resources to acquire the equipment. Although I am saying that we should not fear, one of the areas we are afraid of is lack of adequate equipment to monitor and control the usage of GMOs. That is the area we need to address quickly. I hope that this Bill will be passed so that we can embrace ourselves to what the other world is doing. But we need to move very quickly and put in place that capacity. The capacity will only come when we have enough financial resources. The Minister should be able to do that. Otherwise, we want to encourage that. Let us move with the rest of the world. I am sure this country will be safe. We shall also be able to compete. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, at the moment, we are importing cheap foodstuffs from other countries, even from the COMESA region. We are not able to produce them locally. When the tariffs are properly harmonised, this country will be at a lose in terms of marketing our farm produce. We need to move quickly, so that we are able to produce competitively and sell without asking for protection from the other countries that we are competing with. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the next ten years, we do not have much to fear. Let us develop the capacity in terms of human resource and equipment. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}