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{
    "id": 239664,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/239664/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 199,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Musyoka",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 191,
        "legal_name": "Gideon Musyoka Ndambuki",
        "slug": "gideon-ndambuki"
    },
    "content": "I am happy that the Minister of State for Special Programmes, Mr. Munyes, is here to listen to what we are saying. I have just had a private discussion with the Minister. I hope he will find time to visit parts of upper Eastern Province, lower Eastern Province and the North Eastern Province because these are the areas that are perennially under threat of famine. I know that there are many such areas, including Kajiado and Turkana districts. I come from an area that has been permanently inflicted by famine. Major-General Nkaissery remembers that I was even in Kajiado Central, where the conditions are no better. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, time has, indeed, come for the Government to try and, at least, wake up. It is sad that the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) is apparently, doing very little to even store the available food that comes by the way of this Government. I know that following the declaration of drought as a national disaster by the President last year, a lot of friends of this country came to our assistance. I would want to suggest that the Minister responsible for Special Programmes comes to this House and gives a tabulation of the assistance the Government has received and how he dispensed the receipts that came his way to off-set the food deficit this country faced. I have confidence that the Minister tried to do his best. However, surprisingly, Kenyans no longer talk about kitu kidogo but rather kitu kikubwa . There could be some officers even in his Ministry who could have taken advantage of the good will extended to us by our development partners and diverted food assistance to other areas. For instance, I would like to see proper use being made of the NCPB stores. I gave the example of Nginyang' NCPB deport in East Baringo where, after visiting, I found that what was originally meant to be a food store has been turned into a \"prison\" for livestock that get stolen by the various communities. This was, indeed, shocking. I am sure that the Minister may not be aware of a place called Kiso in my own constituency, where we have a NCPB deport, as well as the main depot in Mwingi. These facilities have been put into disuse. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we would want to have a clear policy from the Government on what it intends to do to some of these facilities, which were put up with assistance from our development partners. I want to suggest that serious attention be given to dam construction, particularly in Ukambani and the other areas I referred to. If the Government was serious, we could have seen the deployment of the National Youth Service (NYS) to those areas because these are young Kenyans who would want to make a difference in terms of developing their country. Indeed, the Engineering Battalion of our Armed 2526 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 2, 2006 Forces should have been deployed to that area in a very systematic manner to give water to our people."
}