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{
    "id": 531296,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/531296/?format=api",
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    "content": "possibility that there will be a drought or that there is, indeed, a drought and what levels of emergencies are there so that the Government can plan interventions appropriately. This is a very important issue because although we have had NMDA in the last four years, the level of support and finance that has been given to this department in the Ministry of Devolution and Planning has been very limited to the extent that the level of interventions when there is drought has been minimal. Every year, including up to last year and even as we speak--- Last week, we had a meeting on this matter and we have seen that in West Pokot, nearly 50,000 people are facing starvation because of drought. In Marsabit, it is even worse; in Wajir and all those counties in that region of the country, the lives of people are at stake and animals are already dying. What we are seeing is a situation where, every year, we know that there will be a drought; but the level of preparedness and planning has always been inadequate. To make it worse, the level of intervention is minimal. What the Government has always done is to provide a small amount of money to carry out off-take buying of livestock. Last year during the drought, the Government Ministry provided about Kshs.300 million or Kshs.500million for off take in a situation where hundreds of thousands of animals were dying. I remember a few years ago, there was a time when we expressed total loss of livestock valued in excess of Ksh70 billion. In a situation like that, when we are not providing enough funding to deal with this emergency to enhance our preparedness and planning, then we are actually destroying the livelihoods of the people in this region - pastoralists, Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALS) of this country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, many years ago, the last colonial Governor who was in this country said the following about that part of the country in the north: There is a part of Kenya that other Kenyans do not even know about and, much worse, they do not even care about. Fifty years after Independence, that statement is becoming true. One of the Members who just contributed on the other side was very clear that “we do not need this.” What it means is that he does not know the level of suffering and the destruction that drought causes every year on the lives and the livelihoods of the people in this region. In every other part of this country, those who are dealing with sugar, coffee and tea have authorities, government organizations and State corporations which provide for them marketing, support in crop development and many other areas. But for pastoralists communities who have been subjected to suffering every---"
}