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{
    "id": 243125,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/243125/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 209,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kajwang",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 164,
        "legal_name": "Gerald Otieno Kajwang",
        "slug": "otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I did not want to talk much on this subject, but I thought that the Ministry of Agriculture could have, by now, been supporting the production of GM foods. I know of a lady who is a scientist and is producing GM potatoes. I think she wants to multiply the potato seed so that Nairobi could be supplied with sufficient potatoes produced cheaply, so that we could buy chips cheaply. But instead of that, the Government is not putting aside any money to support research. So, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) is working with very limited resources from some foreigners who have their own interests. I think the Government must now put money for research in our universities and research institutions, so that people do not come here to alarm us. That way, even before we come to this House, we could consult some professors from KARI, University of Nairobi or any other university to give us a seminar so that, when we come here, we dismiss this thing forthwith without debate! We are July 12, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2005 wasting a lot of our energy talking about things that the Mover himself is very inadequately informed about. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, my own constituency is a marginal area in terms of rainfall. We are lucky that we got some harvest this year. Most times, we lose our harvest just when it is about to ripen, because of lack of rains. If we got rainfall twice, thrice or even one more week, we harvest. We are using seeds which are not responsive to that area. If somebody could come up with a seed that would feed us with that limited rain, we would be very happy. We would not be begging for relief food. But we keep on begging for relief food. I was talking to the Minister for \"relief food\" yesterday--- I do not know what that Ministry is all about, but it must be the Ministry for \"Relief\". I went to ask him for some help, so that we could get some maize and some beans in my place. I could not be asking for that if some scientist came up with some seed which can do well in my area. We cannot be afraid of science. In the history of scientists, they have been hanged before just because they said the world is round. They have been hanged before just for saying that there is gravity. We are now being hanged because somebody is afraid of change. We must change to survive. The population of the world is so high that, unless we increase the production of food per acre, we are all going to perish. So, unless, I am persuaded, which I am not, that those things pose a danger to my life and the environment, I oppose."
}