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"id": 243126,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/243126/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Kibunguchy",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Health",
"speaker": {
"id": 294,
"legal_name": "Enoch Wamalwa Kibunguchy",
"slug": "enoch-kibunguchy"
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"content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me this opportunity to also stand up and oppose this Motion. I oppose it for various reasons. We cannot turn back the clock. We have to move forward. We must keep pace with the rest of the world. The spirit of this Motion is trying to push us back to the days of our grandfathers. For that reason and many other reasons, we must oppose this Motion. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, last week, when the Mover was moving this Motion, the spirit in the House was that we needed to amend it. I am surprised and saddened that a good Motion like this is going to fail because the Mover is stubborn, obstinate and does not want to amend it. We should have amended this Motion so that, rather than ban GM foods, we look at other aspects of science that are involved. We should have looked at other aspects of policy, regulation and learning more about that new exciting field that is poised to take care of certain aspects of our lives, especially in Third World countries. We should have looked at those things, rather than the Mover of the Motion being stubborn and refusing to come to terms with what is happening in this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I will talk about two aspects only. First of all, I am a medical doctor and I know that a lot of work is being done on stem cells in the world. Stem cell science is trying to look into aspects of taking care of inherited diseases. Those are diseases which are inherited and not easy to treat. What that science is doing is trying to alter certain genes to take care of debilitating diseases that do not have a cure. So, for us to stand up in this House and oppose a move like that, we would not be doing humanity any justice at all. That stem cell science is a form of genetically modified procedure. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, one of the biggest problems in Third World countries - Kenya and especially my constituency of Lugari included - is poverty. Poverty comes with malnutrition, lack of sense of worth and many other problems. Poverty is degrading and limits our ability to do a lot of things. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Lugari Constituency is one of the places in this country where we have fertile soil for food production. Over the years, especially after the clashes of 1991/1992 and 1997/1998, we had so many people moving and settling in Lugari because it was relatively peaceful at that time. Over the years, people have sold their land and they are now living on small pieces of land. How do we maximise our production when we are faced with a situation 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 12, 2006 where our land size is getting smaller and smaller over the years, if we will not address the issue of science? This is one of the issues that we are discussing today. I must strongly oppose this Motion because one of the things that we are worried about in Lugari is that we want to maximise production from the small pieces of land that our people find themselves settling in. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, listening to Capt. Nakitare move this Motion, he kept talking about a group called Monsanto. It appeared to me that he had a personal grudge with this particular group. As we oppose this Motion, we are not saying that Monsanto is doing any good job. In terms of policy and advancement of science, we have to oppose this Motion because it is trying to take us back to the days of our grandfathers. There are all kinds of genetic modifications that have been done, some not so dramatic and some dramatic. I would like to talk about the issue of tissue culture bananas. This is a technology that has been widely accepted in this country. It is widely practised in this country, even in Lugari Constituency. We have seen the benefits that tissue culture bananas can bring to this country. We are looking at some trees that are growing much faster especially the eucalyptus trees. As a result, very soon this country will be self-sufficient in terms of production of poles for electricity supply in various areas rather than importing poles from other countries at this time and age. Science is enabling us to produce some of these things that will mature faster and be able to serve the communities in whatever they are doing. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, those of us who produce maize sometimes lose up to 50 per cent of our maize because of a pest that has been aptly called Osama . This pest normally destroys our maize when it is about to start flowering. If science can be applied to take care of a pest like that, those of us who grow maize will be very grateful because we would be able to save up to 50 per cent of our produce. For those reasons and many more that my colleagues have mentioned in this House, I would like to say that we should all rise up and oppose this Motion. Thank you."
}