HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 233401,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/233401/?format=api",
"text_counter": 256,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Odoyo",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 340,
"legal_name": "Peter Ochieng Odoyo",
"slug": "peter-odoyo"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have just been discussing issues to do with insecurity in this country. One important aspect of security in this country is food security. While the Assistant Minister, Office of the President talked of armed security, many armed conflicts arise as a result of lack of food security. In Kenya, food security has been lacking. Since Independence, we inherited an economy that was structured to suit Her Majesty the Queen's Government. That economy was meant to produce cash crops that supported the economy in the November 22, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3843 UK. When we took over the Government in 1964, we did not intentionally restructure the economy in order to address the food deficit in the country. Today, Kenya is still a food-deficit country. We have so many people in Kenya who are still not able to feed themselves. Only one-third of Kenya can be said to have some inkling of rain water, surface water, rivers or underground water. Over two-thirds of Kenya is still living below the poverty line. The Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) of this country will not be addressed until we are able to leave our traditional ways of farming and adopt modern technology that has been brought by Dominion Farms in Yala Swamp. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Motion urges the House to put together a team of experts to look at how Dominion Farms have successfully implemented an irrigation project in Kenya. We should not just form a committee of experts to look at the negative aspects but we should also look at the lessons to be learned by successful projects in Kenya. Dominion Farms in Yala Swamp is a clear example of how successful farming using irrigation can be undertaken in a country like Kenya. This Motion focuses on the food policy in this country. We have accepted that the lack of rainfall can only be addressed by all the rivers and waters that we have. In Nyanza, we have hills, valleys, plateaus and mountains which are fairly adequate for developing a gravity-fed irrigation system. As I move this Motion on behalf of Mr. Oloo-Aringo, I would like to urge hon. Members to bear in mind that this Motion supports commercial farming in Kenya. Commercial farming is the only way we shall be able to feed Kenyans. Over-reliance on rain continues to show that there is failure day in, day out. Today, we are still importing food, meat and many other things. We do not have adequate supply of food for all parts of the country. Our country will never claim to be developed until it has adequate food. Food is the way to develop all other sectors. All these fights we are seeing in different parts of Kenya are usually caused by lack of resources. The key resource that we are talking about is food. Until we reach a level where every Kenyan is able to feed as much as they demand, we shall continue to have these inter-tribal and inter-clan fights that continue to mar the image of Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have some notes from Mr. Oloo-Aringo. He points out that this Motion seeks to integrate irrigation in the National Food Policy and that such policy should address the harvesting of rain water and the construction of dams, development of irrigation technology and infrastructure to make full use of surface and underground water in the country to produce food and other crops. The Motion also talks of nurturing livestock to feed our people and generate income and fight poverty. Mr. Oloo-Aringo goes ahead in the notes he has passed over to me to state that he supports the project objectives of Dominion Farm who have managed to rehabilitate 2,300 hectares of land and have irrigated well over 2,000 and who, today, are producing almost 50 per cent of rice that is consumed in Kenya. This particular project continues to employ well in excess of 1,000 Kenyans. This project also continues to contribute to the food policy in this country by ensuring that we have adequate supply of rice. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the request to form a committee of experts is a recognition that we also need to look at the successful implementation of the projects. Unless we learn the lessons of good projects, we shall not be able to re-integrate and duplicate them in other areas. Today, as we sit here, the Bura Irrigation Scheme and the Kano Rice Irrigation Scheme have collapsed. Many irrigation projects are not working today. I urge the Minister for Regional Development Authorities, who intends to undertake many irrigations projects, especially in the Coast Province, including areas where they intend to grow sugar-cane through irrigation, to go to 3844 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 22, 2006 Yala Swamp and study some of the systems they have used to ensure that those projects are successful. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in 1979, Mr. Oloo-Aringo and the late Dr. Robert Ouko supported the Motion to create Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA). At that time, they recognised that the lake region can be the key food basket for Kenya. Over the years, it has been ignored systematically by the various Governments which have been in power. Even today, the lake region is not receiving its adequate stock of development commensurate with the amount of taxes they are paying to the national cake. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Mr. Oloo-Aringo indicates here that the Lake Basin Development Authority failed in its mandate despite all the positive aspects that were raised by Prof. Wasao who was the first Managing Director. Since then, successive chief executives have indulged in theft and corruption of a magnitude that has destroyed the foundation of the LBDA. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I congratulate the current Minister for Regional Development Authorities who is doing his best to rehabilitate all these regional government authorities. However, I wish to indicate to him that he must have the Dominion Farms project replicated in other parts of the country. We must learn. These people will be in Kenya for a total of 25 years. After that, they will hand over the project to the Lake Basin Development Authority. The Minister must, therefore, have a team ready to look at what the Dominion Farms are doing and also duplicate whatever they are doing in other parts of Nyanza and Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Mr. Oloo-Aringo, who is a Commissioner in this Parliament, reminds hon. Members that MPs cannot develop their constituencies from the salaries and allowances. He reminds hon. Members that their role is to enact taxation which allows the Government to legally collect revenue and provide goods and services to their constituencies. He also reminds MPs that one of their core functions is to ensure that the Government expends money on programmes that they have approved here in Parliament and that those public funds are not stolen by Accounting Officers who we have mandated to undertake those tasks. Finally, he says that hon. Members' cardinal duty is to represent the people by expressing in and outside Parliament, their hopes, aspirations and concerns and suggest ways to alleviate poverty and the many problems that face our people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, while on the subject of food security, I wish to point out that the economics of food production relies heavily on prices. If you offer low prices to farmers, they make rational decisions. They will not grow what you want. If on the other hand you offer very high prices to the consumers, you will bring inflation into the country. There is, therefore, a balance between prices offered to farmers and prices being offered to the consumers. In this country, we see a dichotomy. Farmers get very low prices and consumers get very high prices. So, who is between is milking this margin? These are what we call the middlemen. The management of the middlemen has to be such that we can be able to have more money going to our farmers and also that the consumers pay reasonable prices. This Government has failed to find the appropriate equilibrium or middle point that satisfies both the consumer and the farmer. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the food production in this country has to be the key. Without food, the Ministry, represented among others by hon. Mungatana will continue to expend hours and hours in this House talking about inter-tribal and clan warfare. We must address food security and this Motion calls upon the setting up of a team of experts so that we learn from what this American has brought to Kenya and to find out how well we can duplicate it through a report to be brought in this House within six months so that it is debated and also the lessons are appropriately learnt to enable all Kenyans to benefit from such an investment. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that is not to say that there are no problems in Yala Swamp. Indeed, there are problems of management as concerns how a foreign company undertakes November 22, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3845 irrigation projects and the environmental impact assessment. These are all issues that are still on the ground and the Government indeed has taken steps to look at them but they must agree that for any development to take place, there will be some movement of people. There may be one or two people who may not be totally in the positive but the totality of the weight is that it falls on the positive side that this is a positive addition to this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in the case of sugar which we were hoping to grow and irrigate sugar in the coastal region, I wish to urge hon. Mungatana to fully support this particular project which is in his constituency. I have heard stories that he has been losing faith in that particular project and he wants it moved to other parts of Kenya but the Assistant Minister should continue to support this particular project and it should not be replicated in parts of Nyanza and other parts of Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on food security, beginning with the basics leads to the question: \"What are the basics in Kenya\"? One, let us get adequate maize, wheat, rice and sugar. These are basic food items that consume a large part of the poor's little budget that they have. Once we have adequate food, then we can do away with the Office of the President and re- apportion in the next Government, hon. Mungatana to a more appropriate role probably to be the Attorney-General taking into account the fact that he is a lawyer rather than waste him by answering questions which indeed are not appropriate to his training and upbringing. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, I wish to request all hon. Members that we must adopt irrigation. Irrigate or die! There has just been a big climate conference in Kenya and we are being told that the weather patterns are changing. The rain patterns are changing. Today, in November, we have floods across the country. We have El Nino coming. Therefore, we must say that those days of planting in April, May, March or February are going to change and we are not ready. The only way we can protect ourselves from this problem is to have irrigation. I believe and request this Government to move the Department of Irrigation from the Ministry of Water and Irrigation to the Ministry of Regional Development Authorities because there are huge regional projects covering lots of parcels of land across this country and currently the Ministry of Water and Irrigation is not doing a very good job. Let us leave water with water and sanitation. Let us treat irrigation for what it is. It is the key to the future of this country. Indeed, if North Eastern Province got rain for just one month, what you will see on the ground will astound you. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, therefore, if we can move oil all the way from Mombasa to Kisumu and then Kampala, why can we not be able to move water? Why can we not move water from Lake Victoria all the way up to Garissa? We have hills of the Rift Valley just down here. The technology is now basic technology. It is no longer rocket science. If oil can be moved all the way from ground zero in Mombasa to the highest point in Eldoret, time is ripe for us to ask: \"Where indeed do our priorities lie?\" Our priorities must lie with the basics. Let us go back to the basics and start by asking the question: \"Why is a five-year-old girl not able to get fresh water in Garissa Town\"? It is not only that. There is no water in Mombasa. In Mombasa, where the PC is a son of my hon. friend here, lacks fresh drinking water. There is no fresh drinking water in Kisumu. We have an ocean in Mombasa and a lake in Kisumu, but we cannot get fresh water. Where are the basics? Let us forget the colonial Government which formed this economy to service them so that we can export tea, coffee, and sugar to them. They did not promise to give us food. They promised to satisfy their economy. We must restructure our economy so that we meet the basic needs of our people and that starts with food, pumps and land are available and this Government has lots of money and so why can it not put food on the table of people living in Mathare Valley so that we get rid of these fights? Mungiki is nothing but an expression of loss of resources. 3846 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 22, 2006 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, my time is up for supporting hon. Oloo-Aringo and I beg to move."
}