Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 36531,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/36531/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 259,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Raila",
    "speaker_title": "The Prime Minister",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 195,
        "legal_name": "Raila Amolo Odinga",
        "slug": "raila-odinga"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are not discussing the Report of the Implementation Committee of the House. When that time comes, we will deal with that. Sheikh Dor wanted to know about the Government programme on irrigation. The hon. Member was here on the Budget Day. He should have heard the kind of funding that the Government has put in irrigation schemes this financial year. When we took over, we found that a number of irrigation schemes had collapsed. We have since revived quite a number of those schemes; namely, Bura, Hola, Mwea, Kano, Ahero and Perkerra. All these have been revived. More importantly, there is quite a bit of effort going on to create new irrigation schemes. Several irrigation schemes are right now under construction. We are making good use of our water resources; the rivers. We need to know that there are other technical issues associated with tapping the river water. For example, if the river is very low down with very high banks, it requires a lot of energy to pump water. Take the example of Tana River. You cannot dam it at Garissa but you can do it lower down where it is flat. I want to assure hon. Members that efforts have been made now to create more and more irrigation schemes and move away from rain fed agriculture in the country generally. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, Mr. Kizito talked about politics in the Cabinet that is underlying the allocation of resources among Ministries. I want the hon. Member to know that before the Budget is brought in this House, it is discussed and approved by the Cabinet as a whole. The Cabinet acts as one unit; they are not two. Yes, we are a Coalition Government but we are one Government. In other words, the President is not responsible for one half and the Prime Minister the other. The President and Prime Minister are responsible for the Government as a whole. Therefore, if there is a problem, we will deal with it in the Cabinet. I would, therefore, like to urge hon. Members to look at this as an issue of the Executive. The Executive has the responsibility to prepare the Budget and to implement it. We would like hon. Members to understand this because we have now moved to a new constitutional dispensation. We have never been here before, where there is supposed to be clear separation of powers between the Executive and Legislature. It is important that this Parliament sets a good example and sets precedence that shall be emulated by parliaments that are going to come hereafter. I would like to appeal to the hon. Members when they will be discussing the Cabinet to look at it much more patriotically. Mr. Ethuro talked of too little too late. Mr. Ethuro comes from one of the affected areas. I am sure he will confirm to this House that sufficient effort is being put on this issue of food distribution. He is an old Member and he can confirm that what is being done is different from how it used to be done in the past."
}