Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 468366,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/468366/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 225,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Lonyangapuo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 447,
        "legal_name": "John Krop Lonyangapuo",
        "slug": "john-lonyangapuo"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to join my colleagues in thanking Sen. Haji for bringing this Motion, particularly when the new Government has just come in with very ambitious irrigation plans. It is now time to identify where this land is and who is going to work on it. If you read the history of Kenya from 1963, we inherited a few irrigation schemes that were done by colonialists. The story today reads as though we just lost it when they left. If you talk about the irrigation scheme on River Tana which was revived about three years ago by the Grand Coalition Government, the entire machinery of Government went to Bura. All the Ministers and Permanent Secretaries (PSs) – I was a PS then – were there. It looked very brilliant. But it looks like when there is a crisis that is when Kenya erupts and moves into action. I do not know whether that activity is still going on now or it just ceased. If it did, it was because of competing forces and arms of Government that failed to identify that they needed to build stores for the maize that was being produced. Since we have realized that food is a necessity and it is anchored in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to tackle poverty and hunger as a serious case in Kenya, and yet we say that agriculture contributes a big percentage of our GDP, we need to address this noting that 75 per cent of our land mass in Kenya is found in the arid and semi arid lands. We may not suffer the loss that we had in Bura if we go to drier areas. We suffered that loss because of the flooding that we experienced and so on. If we move on to the drier areas where little water is going to be required as a result of the latest technology that has been invented for farming, it would do us good. You know that we import a lot of food today. Maize is our staple food. The food that we import may be Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). I do not know whether it is fit for human consumption. For three and a half years, I was the PS in charge of industrialization where the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) was fighting goods that were coming through the Port of Mombasa, particularly food that was not genuine. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this maize comes because we have failed to produce our own food. So, we give it to a few greedy fellows whose business is to create artificial hunger and then they import food and make a big kill. I want to suggest that we support this Motion and ensure that, as soon as it passed, the relevant Committee makes a follow up. I come from the maize growing area of Trans Nzoia and West Pokot. About 80 per of West Pokot is very dry leaving us with 20 per cent where we do our farming. However, there was no fertilizer that came to our place. The soils are thoroughly exhausted and so you must use fertilizer. As I am speaking now, the people of Trans Nzoia, West Pokot and the North Rift are waiting for CAN and ammonia to come. The maize has changed colour. So, in the coming year, we are waiting and staring at hunger from January next year. 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."
}