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"speaker_name": "Prof. Mango",
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"legal_name": "Christine Mango",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Bill. What keeps people alive is nutrition. Without proper nutrition, the nation cannot survive. Nutrition plays a very important role from conception to death. Therefore, as a nation, we need to 3938 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 23, 2006 have proper nutrition if we are to survivor. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Mover for this very important Bill. Kenyans will now start taking stock of what they eat. It is a very well known scientific fact that when children are well-fed, they grow up to be healthy and intelligent. Their brains have to develop. So, nutrition is very important in all aspects of our lives. In this country, people go to the market to buy whatever they would want to eat. However, most times we do not even know what we are eating. When you go to the market you will find very leafy green kales or spinach. However, these have been grown in the sewerage areas of Mathare or elsewhere. Such leafy green vegetables grown around sewerage areas pick up a lot of heavy metals like lead and others which are detrimental to our health. We, therefore, need to have some standards about what goes to our markets and what we consume. If we continue feeding on what we are feeding on currently, it will prove to be injurious to the population. That, surely, needs to be regulated. In most of our rural areas there is plenty of food, but it is the combination that matters. You may find a child suffering from nutrition problems, and yet the mother keeps a lot chicken. The mother, however, does not feed the children on either the chicken or eggs. This could be because of taboos which are meant to bar children from eating eggs. Also, it could be because the mother does not simply know what is good for her children. Therefore, the institute will go a long way in sensitizing mothers on what they should give their children and the entire family. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we need to know how to make concentrates from what we grow. We need to make concentrates for young children and the aged people who have no teeth and cannot eat regular foods. At the end of the day, they suffer a lot from malnutrition because of not getting a proper diet. If we can manufacture concentrates in form of fluids, they would go a long way in helping young children and the old people. Old people waste away because they cannot chew foodstuffs like githeri or hard meat. In the end they die of malnutrition. We should, therefore, consider manufacturing concentrates which will give these people good health instead of letting them waste away. One of the hon. Members mentioned something about drought- resistant crops. We have neglected these crops and that is why famine is everywhere. In most areas of this country, people have turned to growing maize which requires more rainfall than crops like finger millet, sorghum and cassava. If we concentrate on producing drought-resistant crops, we may not have too much famine as is the case presently. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, our ancestors did not have transport facilities to move food from one area to the other and yet they survived. They survived on traditional crops which we have now neglected and which are healthy. Most of our traditional foodstuffs are also medicinal; like most of our vegetables. They have medicinal values in them and are able to contain malaria and many of the other diseases that plague us now. However, since we have neglected them, we have become susceptible to a lot of diseases. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in Kenya, we need to regulate the foodstuffs sold by the roadside, for example, mandazi, roast maize and so on. A study carried out a while ago showed that roast maize carries a lot of lead which is caused by pollution from vehicles. As the vehicles pass by the roadside emitting carbon dioxide from their exhaust pipes, it lands on such foodstuffs like mandazi and roast maize. People then eat that roast maize without washing it and so they take in a lot of lead and other heavy minerals into their body systems, hence all these diseases we are getting today like cancer of the oesophagus and many others which are linked to what we eat. Therefore, I hope that the Institute will do a lot of research on what is going on and what is causing us a lot of diseases. It is what we are eating that carries all manner of pollutants into our body systems. November 23, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3939 Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is the question of aflatoxin. Aflatoxin has been found in cassava, maize and many of our cereals are affected. The research findings coming out have tended to show that in areas where there is a lot of aflatoxin, many people who are infected by the HIV/AIDS virus succumb and, therefore, there is a close link between aflatoxin and HIV/AIDS. This needs research. It boils down to nutrition again. What we eat and what we have when combined together can do us a lot of harm. Therefore, this institute will go a long way in sensitising the communities on what is good and suitable for our nutrition. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, recently, we have seen all manner of goods being sold in the markets as food additives. It is not necessary to take those additives if you are eating a balanced diet. However, currently, many Kenyans are not eating balanced diets. We have fallen victims to fish and chips which does us more harm than good. The children become obese. They are not getting a balanced diet and this is due to the fact that we are also ignorant about what the proper diet is all about. We need to reverse this trend if we are to remain a healthy nation. As one of my colleagues has said, if we continue like this, that is how diabetes and all these other diseases are rising among us. Therefore, we need to have our population sensitised about proper diet to avoid and reduce all these diseases that are occurring which were never there among our people. This has reduced the lifespan of Kenyans to the point that in many areas you can hardly find a wise old man to give advice because we no longer live that long. We die a lot sooner. So, this Bill has come at the right time so that we can do something to arrest the unhealthy situation we are in. Of course, that also goes for illicit drinks like kumi kumi and so on. As long as they are not part of food, they have an impact on the Kenyans' lifestyle. In the old days, in many areas, people drank traditional brews which were more healthy than what we are seeing today. The"
}