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{
    "id": 380238,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/380238/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 24,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "July 24, 2013 SENATE DEBATES 4 Sen. Kajwang",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for the opportunity to complete my contribution on this very important subject of livestock. In fact, we have sometimes called this “the livestock” industry, but we have not invested sufficiently to be proud to call it so. In fact, it is an industry that has thrived by itself sometimes without any Government support or intervention. I do not know of any industry in the world that can thrive if we do not put our money and effort in developing it. I have looked at budgets come and go. My brother, Sen. (Dr.) Kuti was once the Minister for Livestock sometime ago. He put in a lot of effort. I remember that when we were faced with a drought where animals were dying in North Eastern Province, he even bought hay to take there. He moved some animals to be slaughtered at the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) to save, at least, some wealth. Some animals died before they reached the slaughterhouse. It was a terrible sight watching animals die with some hay which they could not even consume because they were too weak to consume it. That was a very sad situation. But this happens almost perennially, when we have a cycle of drought. We do not seem to learn anything from that. We destroy a lot of wealth. In fact, it looks like this country is one of the richest countries in the world. We usually can project that, for example, this year we will experience drought and we are likely to face devastation of our animals. It is like a huge bank account going into smoke as we watch. We do not seem to feel it. In fact, if somebody stole Kshs10 million from Barclays Bank of Kenya, it would be big news in the Cable News Network (CNN). But if animals die in their thousands in North Eastern Kenya, nobody seems to bother about it. It seems that we are either reckless or careless about our wealth. Probably, this is why we are still poor. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must invest in this industry. I hope that the new Minister and his able supporters in his department, especially the one in charge of the livestock docket will do a few things. First, animals cannot survive without water. I have just listened to the notice of Motion that has been given by Sen. Haji which has indicated that as a result of flooding, water sometimes displaces us from our homes. But the only way of solving this issue is to dam the water. We should just buy some equipment and put them to good use. We do not seem to want to do this. I visited Turkana County with Sen. Munyes some time back, of course the problem then was the border with Sudan. But we were also looking at issues affecting animals. The animals travel long distances into Uganda in search of water. Why does this happen? Ugandans have dug several dams at the border. They collect that same water which we could collect, and we move there to use their water at the risk of tribal clashes. This just shows how careless we are. I do not think Uganda has more money than Kenya. It is only that they have put an effort and they have a vision. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}