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{
    "id": 361643,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/361643/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 301,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Dr.) Nyongesa)",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 132,
        "legal_name": "Paul Nyongesa Otuoma",
        "slug": "paul-otuoma"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this very important Motion. You have put it very correctly that I was in charge of this sector as a policy maker for three years. That was from 2008 to 2010. It is very unfortunate that almost 50 years after Independence this has been one of the most neglected sectors. When I tried to transform the Department of Fisheries into a Ministry, I was very much shocked because if you visited many fishing communities they would take you back by almost 2,000 years, to the times when Jesus was standing on the shores of Galilee and people were casting nets into the lake hoping to catch some fish. This hunter-gatherer economy cannot transform Kenya or those communities into the 21st century. If you visit Lake Victoria, notwithstanding the fact that Kenya has only 6 per cent of it - the rest of the lake is shared between Uganda and Tanzania - you will find that almost a quarter million people go to the lake daily. This is the case, yet visiting it is not regulated, nor are there rules to guide them. People just throw nets into the water and hope to catch some fish. It is no wonder that if you visit some of the places, you will find that poverty has dominated for a very long time. You will find that poverty levels are very high in any fishing community that depends on water bodies and practises hunter- gatherer kind of economy. You will be surprised that 50 years after Independence, there was no proper policy to guide this sector when I was on the Government side. No wonder there are no resources that have ever been allocated to these places. We developed a fisheries policy but it still remains a policy up to now. We must pass the necessary legislation to implement that policy. Otherwise, this Motion is good, but the problem is bigger than what we are seeing. This is the case, yet the potential in this sector to give our young people employment, provide nutrition to this country and earn money from exports by this country is enormous. We have hardly scratched the surface. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also have to think differently. This is because, as I said, Kenya has only 6 per cent of Lake Victoria. If you look at what is happening to Lake Turkana, you will find that it is being dammed onto the Ethiopian side and the lake is diminishing at a tremendous rate. So, the population in that area will be affected. If you go to Turkana you will find that the lake is receding, and even the fishing"
}