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"speaker_name": "Mr. J. Nyagah",
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"content": "Thank you Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to support this very important Bill. This Bill is important because it is crucial to the lives of Kenyans. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me start by thanking Dr. Ojiambo for introducing such an important Bill to this House. It shows Kenyans the importance of having professionals in Parliament. In addition to non-professionals, it is important to have professionals in Parliament. When you have professionals such us Dr. Ojiambo and others, they come up with bright ideas like this Bill. It is a private Member, who is a professional, who brought this Bill to this House. A whole Government and the Ministry of Health, over the last 43 years, did not find it convenient to give this House a Bill of such importance. It is, therefore, important for Kenyans to see the need for both professionals and non-professionals in Parliament. The professionals will guide the Government from time to time when it ignores important legislations such as this. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am happy to see that my colleagues on the other side fully support this Bill. This Bill will cater for all Kenyans. Kenyans' eating habits have to change, given environmental changes, expired products being introduced to our market and the sub- standard imported foods. Our eating habits have to improve and be guided by professionals. It is critical to have professionals doing their job. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the area of nutrition is one of the areas which do not have professional representation. These people are as important as engineers, dentists, architects and so on. Yet, all these years they have been left to operate without professional representation. They are perceived to be ordinary people doing a very routine job when, in fact, they do a job that saves our lives. This Bill will go a long in making them professionals, so that when they stand to talk in meetings, they can be taken seriously. 3932 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 23, 2006 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you go to a departmental meeting in the Ministry of Agriculture, where I served at one point, when nutritionists speak, nobody takes them seriously, because they are considered to be very junior. However, if these officers become professionals, the Minister, the Permanent Secretary and senior officials of the Ministry will take them very seriously. This is one way of raising their positions in the society, so that they can be listened to and their opinions sought and respected for the good of our country. I am happy to see that the Board will, among other things, look at the training of our people. I fully agree with my colleague who has just been appointed an Assistant Minister, and I congratulate him, that it is important for the Board to have a major representation of professionals, so that it is not swallowed by people who do not understand its role. It should not be taken over by journalists who are general administrators and who will think in a way which does not fall in line with the purposes for which this Board was created. I support my colleague that, an amendment be introduced, so that we can have professionals taking over more positions in the Board. Once we have recognised these professionals, we should then, over time, introduce them to our colleges, schools and other public institutions, so that they can help us in looking after our health. As a country advances in development, these things become very important. The fact that we are now introducing such a Bill clearly shows that we have caught up with the rest of the world. It clearly shows that there is need for our country to have people who will assist us to know what to cook, how to cook it and then advise our people accordingly. If we are not advising our people properly, given the fact that the environment is changing and water is becoming dirty, they will easily become ill and they will not live for many years. No wonder our life expectancy is coming down every year. We are told that some of the reasons why our life expectancy has come down is the HIV/AIDS apendemic among others, but people forget that eating habits are a major contributor to the fact that we are living fewer years than people lived before. It is, therefore, important that we have nutritionists in all institutions and in public meetings, so that they can educate Kenyans at all levels. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, when the Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation was introduced in 1954 before it became politicised, this was one of its main job descriptions. It taught people, particularly, ladies, how to cook and take advantage of our traditional foods, so that we could remain healthy. That original job of Maendeleo ya Wanawake should be re-introduced and expanded. I am, therefore, happy to see young professionals, 60 years later, pursuing that line. We need to ensure that training for nutritionists in our colleges is moderniised. I hope that there will be opportunities for certificates, diploma and even degree holders, so that we can expand this field. We should provide appropriate training for people who choose this as a career. It is important that we train them at lower levels, for example, the ones who do not perform very well in high school. The current college of nutritionists should be expanded, so that we can have more people with diplomas in nutritional studies so that they can serve our people better. I know that a few of these professionals are working in institutions like the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS). I hope that KEBS will expand and employ more of these professionals. If you look at our supermarkets, you will find that there are goods that have been smuggled into Kenya by very corrupt people, who do not care about our health. They then collude with some corrupt officers at the KEBS and we then end up with some expired and substandard goods in our supermarkets, which are killing our industries slowly. There is need for nutritionists to work at KEBS and in the Department of Public Health in the Ministry of Health. These professionals should be inspecting goods on our supermarkets' shelves, to ensure that they have not expired and are not substandard. That way, Kenyans will live longer than they are living today. I hope to see these professionals working in in supermarkets and other places inspecting goods and ensuring that our people are eating the right foods. November 23, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3933 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, by playing that role, these professionals will also fight corruption. People import sub-standard goods through the Port of Mombasa and our airports, for example, the Eldoret International Airport. They then bribe people at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) and the goods find their way into our supermarkets. The professionals will assist us by identifying dangerous goods, so that the importers can be arrested and dealt with. As I conclude, I again want to thank the Mover of this Bill, for a job well done. I would like to encourage her to take in whatever amendments will be proposed to improve the Bill. I hope that the Bill will be passed quickly by this House. With those view remarks, I fully support the Bill."
}