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"id": 240777,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/240777/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. C. Kilonzo",
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"speaker": {
"id": 46,
"legal_name": "Charles Mutavi Kilonzo",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to second the Motion. For over 40 years, this country has experienced hunger and drought, and for all those years, there has been no legislation to address the issue of famine and drought. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, famine and drought are permanent features in our country today. Countries with similar climatic conditions like Kenya, for example, Israel, have been able to address the issue of drought to a level where there is no drought any more in those countries. Drought and famine have now brought poverty, more so in the ASAL areas. People living in those areas can no longer afford education and medical care, and worse still, they cannot feed themselves. There can be nothing worse than somebody failing to feed himself. More seriously, the same person cannot even get water. It is a shame that after 40 years of Independence, we find cases where people in this country are starving to death. There are parts of this country where kids have one meal in a day, in school. They even take part of that meal to share with their siblings. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, why do we need to have a legal framework? There are 2368 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 26, 2006 many reasons. First, to ensure that national resources are properly allocated to address the issue of famine and drought. We have seen on very many occasions, in areas where there is a lot of water and the climate is good, funds and national resources are directed there in millions, while more deserving areas get little. Moreover, we need to have legislation to ensure that we have enough food reserves so that when there is famine, we do not have to import food. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, more worse, famine and drought have led to exploitation of people who are affected by them. This comes in many forms. If you go to Isiolo, you will notice that cases of prostitution have gone up. You also see that people in these areas are paid peanuts. We need to have laws to protect these people. A very serious case was the issue of the recent by-elections. The voters in northern Kenya were basically exploited because they suffer from drought and famine permanently. We need to have laws to protect such people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have had very many problems which have been brought by different donors as they address the issue of famine. One particular project is the Food for Work Programme. We need to have proper laws enacted, such that we do not have cases of people who cannot be able to work being forced to work, and these are the elderly and sickly people. We should have laws which should ensure that these people are not abused. We should rather have the law changed so that it is not food for work, but they are employed and paid in kind. This should be clearly stated in the law. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also need to standardise the policies by different NGOs and bodies dealing with famine. For instance, we have the World Food Programme (WFP) which believes in the food for work policy, and we have the Kenya Red Cross which does not believe in this policy. We also need to have laws to ensure that cultural practices, eating habits and religious beliefs are not abused or violated. A typical case is when you take maize and beans to northern Kenya, knowing very well that the people there do not eat this type of food. More worse, we had a case where somebody donated dog food to the Suba community in Nyanza Province. We need to have laws such that if you are going to donate food, you need to know what the law in this country says so that people's rights, habits and beliefs are not abused. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, to ensure the quality of food and water given to the people is fit for human consumption and risk free, we need to have proper laws. We have seen very many aflatoxin cases in Ukambani and other parts of the country where food was imported and no inspection was done. People died and nobody was taken to court. We need to have a law which ensures that whatever is given out as relief food is inspected to ensure that it is fit. It is unfortunate that we have lost over 50 people in Ukambani. More have died in other areas like Meru and not a single person has ever been taken to court. Also, one of the most saddest cases in the management of distribution of relief food is theft. Most of this food lands in the wrong hands and hence stolen. We need to have very clear laws on how to deal with theft of relief food which is meant for people who are starving to death. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, but more serious is the issue of agriculture. Times have changed. We need to have laws to allow the introduction of genetically-modified (GM) foods so that in those areas which are affected by drought and famine, modern ways of farming should be practised there. We should allow improved varieties of crops so that production can be increased. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}