HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 248393,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/248393/?format=api",
"text_counter": 306,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Poghisio",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 202,
"legal_name": "Samuel Losuron Poghisio",
"slug": "samuel-poghisio"
},
"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for the opportunity to contribute to the Cotton (Amendment) Bill. I do not intend to take long but I would like to join my colleagues in supporting this amendment. It is not only important and necessary, it actually begins by being a reminder that the Government needs to look at all Acts and try and help by bringing amendments to all Acts of Parliaments that are not in line with the liberalised economies. This is to ensure that we will begin to catch up with the rest of the world in preparing our laws to be in line with liberalised economies. I would like to suggest that whatever happens in the case of cotton, this is a good avenue 1136 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES June 6, 2006 for the ASAL areas to begin to diversify their economies. I think that cotton is the kind of crop that you can begin to see in ASAL areas. It does very well. There are varieties that do well in ASAL areas. This will cushion pastoralists from the frequent droughts and dependence on relief food year in, year out. I would like, therefore, whatever the board is, to be pro-active. So, when we pass this Bill and introduce this board, there should be an element of being pro-active in initiating new areas for growing cotton and introducing ginneries in those areas. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to ask my colleague, who is bringing this amendment, to make sure that even through the Committee Stage, it is included that there is potential for a bigger part of Kenya to grow cotton. I would also like to state with regard to the funding obtained that I do not, first of all, agree that this is going to occasion any more from the Exchequer than it has already. Being an amendment to an existing Act, it is definitely not going to be an issue. So, we cannot deny it on the basis of it occasioning any extra monies from the Exchequer. I think that if there are any other monies, it will be just on the basis of growth but it is not going to be rejected on that basis. I would like to remind my colleague that this is an amendment and she should not even worry about that. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to say that if there is any more money to be increased, the board should work with like-minded or other organisations that are also in research so that they can expand the area under cotton. The Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Services (KEPHIS) and the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) should be brought on board. The Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) should also come in to help young and beginners in cotton growing by giving them loans so that they can begin to prepare their land and manage to take their crop to the market. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think that my addition to this is that this is an area where those of us who are now dependant on livestock can begin to have some form of cash crop to go with it. It should be made deliberate so that when the young ones are growing and going to school, they can always expect that the parents will have fees and that they can pay their fees not depending on livestock. Maybe after that, we can begin to talk about other crops that can do well in ASAL. Maybe we can begin to talk about the commercialisation of the Aloe Vera plant. There could be other crops that can do well there that will enable people to have money and strengthen the economy of this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I, therefore, I did not intend to add much but there are attitudes that must change. The attitudes of Kenyans, the Government and everybody should change. We need to ask ourselves: What happened to cotton before then? Uganda and other countries continue to sustain their cotton industries while ours collapsed suddenly. What really happened? What and how are we going to do it so that we do not have a repetition of that collapse when we revive the cotton industry? We, therefore, need to have lessons learnt and we have to move away from the structuring that exists right now in the cotton industry. Maybe the problem was the structures or with governance of those structures. We, therefore, need to amend this Bill so that it can take care of some of those pitfalls that befell our cotton industry in the past. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}