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"id": 359853,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/359853/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Kiaraho",
"speaker_title": "The Member for Ol Kalou",
"speaker": {
"id": 2648,
"legal_name": "David Njuguna Kiaraho",
"slug": "david-njuguna-kiaraho"
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"content": " Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. My name is hon. David Njuguna Kiaraho, Member of Parliament for Ol Kalou Constituency. This being my maiden speech, I would like to take this opportunity, first and foremost, to thank the electorate of Ol Kalou Constituency for having voted for me overwhelmingly. On the same note, I would like to comment on one or two issues which, basically, touch on the Presidential Address, and which are very passionate to me. Those, basically, are issues to do with agriculture and infrastructure. When the various Members were contributing during their maiden speeches, I think the issue of infrastructure was a major item. Considering that, there is one thing that we, as architects, when we design a project, we make sure that we design and follow it up to the final implementation. What I have noted is that here we have been talking about infrastructure and alleviating poverty of our people in the rural areas. One area which I would like to comment on at this point is infrastructure. I happen to come from a county which is100 per cent agricultural. When you take that into consideration, there are two factors that you look at one being the issue of infrastructure because it has a major impact on the same. At the same time, when you talk about agriculture, you talk about marketing. How do you market the produce? I am zeroing in on that because when you talk about infrastructure, I do not see why we should not come up with a forum registration measure where we empower our counties in respect of improving the infrastructure network. How do we do that? How can we achieve a mileage on that? It is by asking the Government to zero-rate. When you talk about anything touching on infrastructure, whether it is timber, graders, loaders; anything touching on infrastructure is zero-rated to allow our county governments to import that equipment duty-free. I believe that will go a long way in empowering our various county governments if we do that. At the same time, I would like to comment on something that I am very passionate about. That is because when you talk about alleviating poverty in the rural communities--- Where I come from, for instance, we have something called âpotato packagingâ where brokers have continuously exploited our farmers. A bag of potatoes which is supposed to weigh about 110 kilogrammes, with that packaging, weighs 180 kilogrammes. From the time those farmers till their shambas to the time they harvest those potatoes, they make zero money. From here, I think all these hon. Members will be in the dining area. I can assure hon. Members who are here that the potatoes you will be eating, the farmer will have, most likely, not"
}