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"id": 206373,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/206373/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Muturi",
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"speaker": {
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"legal_name": "Justin Bedan Njoka Muturi",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to say a few words about this Motion. To begin with, I want to congratulate the Mover and like I have said earlier on with regard to the earlier Motion, I want to appreciate that though we are uncertain, we are definitely sure that we are at the tail-end of this Ninth Parliament. A Motion of this nature, important in my view as it is, should be a wake up call to the Government that we need specific policies being brought to this House for debate and adoption. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, whereas we appreciate the enormous potential within the ASALs to contribute to the economic well being of this country, the interventions that go into them by way of investment capital and incentives are done in a manner that is sustainable, not by way of the usual stories that we see like that of the revival of the livestock sector. We support the revival of the livestock sector, but what is the policy framework? We wait until there has been a drought, flash floods or normal floods until we see livestock dying to see a Minister of the Government coming up and saying that we are now looking for funds to do this or the other. We would want to support the revival of the livestock sector. However, we want a policy and legislative framework, which is what is sought by this Motion. I am pointing out this issue because drafting such a legislative framework is not easy. I do not think that we have so much time to do so. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, since I see in this Motion that the Government's position is supposed to be given by the Ministry of Planning and National Development, whose Minister and Assistant Ministers are all absent, not desiring to be present, I would hope that the Government, as represented by the few Ministers and Assistant Ministers who are here, will take it upon itself to see that, even if the law is not developed within the remaining period of this Ninth Parliament, at least, we see something crafted. I suppose the Government will be crafting some manifesto. Even though they do not implement what is always in their manifesto, we would want to see something put into a policy form. We want to see policy formulation, which addresses, not just livestock, but the whole spectrum of pastoralism. Ranching in this country should be an important economic activity, but only a few ranchers go and decide that they want to engage in that particular economic activity because the country is liberal. However, there is no framework in which it is undertaken. We would want to urge that the 3530 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 29, 2007 Government comes up with something which somebody can see. You can go to either the Kenya Investments Authority and know that this is the policy with regard to pastoralism. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, one just needs to go to some countries in Southern Africa to appreciate what I am saying. Two weeks ago, I was in Zambia. In that country, you can see deliberate efforts to encourage ranching. That is the kind of thing we are talking about. We need to zone the country. We need to appreciate the lifestyle of the people, or inhabitants of ASAL areas, so that even as we encourage investment in those areas, we do not displace those inhabitants. They must be accommodated by whatever policy we come up with. We must not continue with what we have done since the colonial days, namely lumping them into \"useless Kenya\" bandwidth, as opposed to \"economically useful Kenya\". What this Motion is urging is that, that area is also part of Kenya, capable of contributing immensely to the economic well-being of this country. I expect that the Government will be supporting this Motion, and giving us specific actions it wishes to take. We do not want sporadic and unco-ordinated interventions that we have been seeing. Indeed, the previous Government was accused of such things. We have not seen anything different from the current Government, because, just like the previous Government, it lacks both policy and a legislative framework within which interventions can be undertaken in the ASAL areas."
}