HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 234162,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/234162/?format=api",
"text_counter": 242,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Ochilo-Ayacko",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 347,
"legal_name": "Ochilo George Mbogo Ayacko",
"slug": "ochilo-ayacko"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to make my remarks regarding this very important Bill. From the onset, I would like to declare my interest. I come from Migori District, which is a tobacco growing district and my Rongo Constituency, also has tobacco growers. The biggest challenge in that part of the world, just like in most parts of Kenya, is the paltry earnings that the tobacco growers and generally the Kenyans who live there, earn from this cash crop. The present administration, just like the past administration, has done very little for our people. We have had no new cash crop. The only cash crop that we have had in that district is sugar-cane and this administration, just like the previous one, has done very little to inject additional or new capital into the growing of sugar-cane. So, what is earning people some little money in this era of widespread unemployment is tobacco. As we discuss this Tobacco Control Bill, let us know that we are doing very little to make sure that farmers carry anything more than what they have been carrying previously. The first thing that is disappointing about this Bill is that it is eager to control the exaggerated effects of tobacco, but it is not eager to do anything to increase the earnings that our November 16, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3753 people are making from Migori and Teso Districts, some parts of Meru and other parts of this country where poverty is widespread. The biggest threat to life in this country is poverty and if this is not addressed, even if we talk about the dangerous effects of tobacco, we will still be addressing the surface issues of what affects our people. The tobacco industry has also contributed positively to the development of this country. If you look at what the Exchequer carries home, you will find that tobacco is one of the rural crops that contribute positively to the Exchequer. If you look at the ratio of smokers in Kenya compared to the people who earn something little out of growing of tobacco, you will find that it is not as alarming as it is in places where this Bill is originating from. I know that similar Bills are being propagated by the World Health Organisation (WHO); that is, fully-backed by the Western countries, where alternatives are numerous, and where you can elect to do one thing but opt to do something different tomorrow, because opportunities abound. I want to tell you that opportunities are not numerous in the parts of the country where we come from. There are parts of this Bill that if you read them very closely, you will find that they make propositions that if made into law, may be very difficult to implement and actualise in a day. So, it is important to capture the effect of the proposed Bill in its entire structure. You will find that it proposes certain adjustments, including designated areas of smoking, without giving sufficient time for implementation of the Bill when it becomes law. So, it is important to know where we are coming from, and give stakeholders, particularly manufacturers like Mastermind, BAT and any other interested investor in the tobacco industry and the hotel industries, sufficient time to comply with certain provisions in this Bill if such provisions are to be enacted and made into law. So, those are areas that the Ministry needs to consider because when it is passed into law, the Bill will occasion culpability and if implemented, certain people may find themselves in trouble, and opportunity shall not have been given to them to comply with the law as it is supposed to be. I want to comment on certain statistics that have been read to this House by hon. Members, such as the ones that indicate that 10 million people will die all over the world by the year 2020, and a certain number of them will come from Kenya. For instance, the statistics that were read by the hon. Member who spoke before me indicated that about 4.9 million people die annually, out of cigarette smoking. That means that out of the 10 million people who shall have died by the year 2020, the fraction that will have come from Kenya will be over 50 per cent. I think such statistics are alarming. I think people die---"
}