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"speaker_name": "Mr. Sungu",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. Allow me also, reluctantly, to support the Vote of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. This Ministry has been notorious for being unfair to certain areas. In the name of affirmative action, I will support any action in the Arid and Semi Arid Lands (ASAL). I will support any action in Ukambani, which is largely dry and needs water. Some of these areas are very fertile. If these people, who lead us in Government, had been serious over the years, this country would be self-sufficient in food production. It is pathetic that we are still importing rice, among other things, when the Kano Plains, as large as it is, all the way to Nyatike, Budalangi and Busia is not irrigated. We are importing rice from Pakistan, Vietnam, and you know from where else. It is pathetic that as the levels of water in 3304 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 21, 2007 Lake Victoria go down, we are still allowing water to go out free to Egypt and Sudan, despite the so-called 1929 Nile Treaty agreement, which should have gone off by now. Despite the Nile River Basin Initiative, the Egyptian Government is still exporting our waters out of the Nile Basin to the Sinai to grow oranges, which we import. What a shame! We are discussing this Vote in the backdrop of a question of Kshs5.9 billion net that the Minister wants for the Development Expenditure. Under that Development Expenditure, for the first time in my life, instead of seeing Administrational Planning, I am seeing Mt. Kenya East with an allocation of Kshs230 million. It is something I have never seen in my ten years in Parliament, as we go towards the end of this Parliament. That is an issue that I will look at very keenly at the Committee Stage. The Minister had better prepare. As we talk about construction of water supplies sources, this has a paltry allocation of Kshs821.7 million. That has a paltry by any standards if you look at the situation. The Minister is saying that the Government aims to have clean and safe drinking water by the year 2015. We are of age and we were in this House when this same Government promised us that there would be clean and safe drinking water by the year 2000. This is shifting goal posts. If the Minister, who is a very good friend of mine, is focused enough and if he was serious, the way he was serious when he was in the Opposition, he would make sure that, that becomes a reality. Our people are dying because of using unclean water and, yet there is a lot of water. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, pollution control has been given Kshs3 million only. That is a shame by any standards! Construction of sewerage has been allocated Kshs122 million, despite the fact that Lake Victoria is clogged with sewerage from the various towns surrounding the lake. Kisumu City does not have a proper working sewerage and, yet the Minister is only asking for Kshs122 million, which cannot even repair the current sewerage system. Irrigation and land degradation has been allocated Kshs473 million. As I have said before, if we were really to focus on irrigation, we would not even be talking about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We would not be talking about food sufficiency and poverty because our people would be able to feed themselves. As I am talking, in my constituency, only a few people can afford one meal a day, unlike the Minister, whom I know has more than four meals a day! This is because of wives and poverty amongst our people, including Ukambani. So, if you focus on irrigation---The next Government, led by Agwambo, will make sure that this happens."
}