Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 239708,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/239708/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 243,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Munyes",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister of State for Special Programmes",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 187,
        "legal_name": "John Kiyonga Munyes",
        "slug": "john-munyes"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to start by thanking the Mover of this Motion, Prof. Oniang'o, for bringing this August 2, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2533 Motion that seeks to bring the Bill that will actually give some legal framework to this country on how we manage matters of famine. When I came to this Ministry, I found the draft policy on ASAL areas as well as the National Disaster Management Policy. It is my wish that this country comes up with a policy that will address the problems of famine. When we pass this Motion and go ahead to draft the Bill, this country will thank all of us for that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me now respond to some of the issues that Members have raised pertaining to how we manage matters of famine relief. One that struck me most is how much have we spent since we started these operations sometime in December. I must say that the Government has done much to alleviate famine. So far, we have spent Kshs6 billion, and we intend to spend up to Kshs16 billion by February next year when we wind up Emergency Programme II. The public and well-wishers have raised Kshs335 million which we gave to the Kenya Red Cross. We need to commend this Government for this. The Government has started the Kenya Food Security Steering Group, which is mainly run by the World Food Programme. In the past, we used to receive these resources from donors and development partners. But for the first time, we are using taxpayers' money. Apart from the Kshs335 million that Kenyans and local NGOs gave us, we have not received the billions we used to receive in the past from the WFP and USAID. This Government is supporting 1.5 million hungry Kenyans as well as 500,000 school-going children. Let me also commend the frmed forces for their assistance in this programme. For the first time in this country, starting with His Excellency the President, we saw the armed forces support famine operations in this country. Let us commend our Government for that. As we speak now, the state of affairs is that we are still under an emergency. There is still famine affecting most areas of our country. We are trying to provide full baskets of maize, oil, beans and rice in all these areas, particularly North Eastern and Coast Province. This is highly commendable; that we have at least done something to provide relief in form of rice especially to school children. The challenges the hon. Members have raised concerning the difficulties we face in famine relief now lie in logistics like transportation where we are spending a lot of money. For this we blame the transport sector for the poor road network and the collapse of the rail network that has affected this country."
}