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{
    "id": 216742,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/216742/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 150,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Mukiri",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 334,
        "legal_name": "Mukiri Macharia",
        "slug": "mukiri-macharia"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this chance to make my contribution. On the outset, let me congratulate the Minister for Finance for a very good Budget that he presented to this House. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me thank the Minister for setting aside money for resettlement of squatters. I come from a constituency where there are so many people who are landless, some of them because of the clashes that have been there over the years. That is a very timely move. I hope the Minister will address that issue and the Government will allocate more money towards the resettlement of the landless. Kenya, as a country, purely depends on agriculture. Much of our economy is dependent on the agricultural sector. It is not right for some segments of the society to stay idle in the rural areas because they have no land. That is wasted manpower. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, last year, when the Minister set aside Kshs400 million for resettling the landless, my constituency benefited from part of that allocation. But there seems to be a problem with the Ministry of Lands. I hope that His Excellency the President will address that issue. The Minister for Lands is a very busy person. He also serves as a Minister in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. It has become very difficult for him to perform some of his duties. The Government purchased land in my constituency, but it has become completely impossible to have the Minister come and move the process to the next step of allocation. I pray that he finds time to visit my constituency so that people do not continue waiting, when the Government has already done its part. 2084 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 27, 2007 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is also another issue about the pyrethrum industry. That is something that I have talked about for so long. I am happy to hear that, for once, the Minister has set aside some money to address that problem. The Minister for Agriculture should be serious in the way his Ministry is dealing with pyrethrum issues. That is an industry which used to earn this country about Kshs2 billion yearly. What has happened now is that many farmers have uprooted the pyrethrum crop because they have not been paid over the years. The Minister should not just come up with stop-gap measures of giving small monies here and there to farmers. The Government should address issues affecting the pyrethrum industry very seriously. That industry has been giving this country a lot of money in terms of foreign exchange. Therefore, I would have expected the Government to invest more because of the many years of serious mismanagement. Even if we pay the farmers who have not been paid over the years, it does not change anything. Those are poor people who need to be helped with seedlings. The Government should, therefore, invest more money so that, at least, farmers could gain some confidence. I believe that the Government is capable of sorting out the problems affecting the pyrethrum industry. It is not just an issue of payment. It is an issue of investment. Personal interests that have been expressed before should not be used to make the farmers suffer. We hope that, as much as the Government may want to privatise or liberalise the sector, it must first sort out issues of mismanagement and other problems that have dogged that sector. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I wish to speak about our universities---"
}