Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 386297,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/386297/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 126,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Nobwola",
    "speaker_title": "The Nominated Senator",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13116,
        "legal_name": "Catherine Mukiite Nabwala",
        "slug": "catherine-mukiite-nabwala"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to make a contribution to the Presidential Address. I would like to congratulate you and your senior for being elected as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Senate. I also want to hail the Constitution for making it possible for women to be nominated to the august House. I therefore stand here as an elected woman and my constituency is the woman at the grassroots. One or two people said that ladies in the Senate do not have constituencies and, therefore, we are not going to get equal allowances. I would like to concur with what Sen. Mugo said; that the Government cannot be spending taxpayers’ money on nominated Senators and at the same time, you do not want us to make an impact at the grassroots. How will women then be elected in the august House after these five years? The President acknowledged the role of the Opposition in the House. He went on to say:- “As we hold different views, at the end of the day we are not enemies”. In fact, what we shall be trying to do is to put checks and balances on what the Jubilee Government is going to do. He laid down his goals for the next five years. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I will talk about the agricultural sector with regard to the Trans Nzoia County where I come from. We are the bread basket for the nation. We produce so much maize that is milled outside the county and so our revenue is not fully realized when you use the parameters the Commission on Revenue Allocation has used to arrive at the revenue to be allocated to counties. We produce the maize but unga is being sold outside the county. This means that the reflected revenue is not correct. I would have expected to see our President say what he is going to do about this. He should have told Kenyans whether he has plans of setting up a Government milling plant so that maize is milled within the county and for the county to generate and collect enough revenue. The other issue that is affecting farmers in Trans Nzoia is that of fertilizers. This has been touched on by a Senator from Western Province. Fertilizer is being brought in at very exorbitant prices which poor farmers cannot afford. In my view, the county governments should take it upon themselves to make sure that the fertilizer is brought into the country at an affordable rate so that poor farmers can afford it. In this current session, the fertilizer that was given out was priced at Kshs2,500. It was, however, given to the wrong people who later sold it to business people. When you go to the shops to buy this fertilizer, you will find it being sold at Kshs3,500 which is much more than the rate that National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) was giving us. Unless the Government takes it upon itself to streamline this sector, it will be swallowed up because we are next to Uganda. Uganda is bringing in maize and a bag is going for The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}