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{
    "id": 54412,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/54412/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 299,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Mureithi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 89,
        "legal_name": "Erastus Kihara Mureithi",
        "slug": "erastus-mureithi"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to debate on a very important Motion. Since we live in the rural areas and we want to accept that the ordinary person is really going through a very difficult time, I would like to say that this must be taken in a holistic way without looking at it from any point of political side. All of us must admit that there is a problem in this country. What I am going to say is what we are experiencing in the horticultural industry. There is something that we call the value chain. You can take the value chain from what Mr. Namwamba was talking about or you can take it from any angle. When you have the value chain, there is the producer, like the way we produce potatoes in Nyandarua and then our bag of potatoes worth Kshs270 kilogrammes is bought at Kshs200 by middlemen. It goes to the manufacturer where it is processed. The same manufacturer is the same one who distributes it and at the same time retails it. Therefore, two persons; the producer and the consumer, get the brand part of our commodities. Therefore, I would like to say that since we have an inter-ministerial committee that looks at the food security and which is chaired by none other than the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister whom we respect, why can they not come together and relook at what is bedeviling our people because we are dealing with a time bomb? Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, when you go to the rural areas, you will find that people are going without food. There are people like the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who are also going without food. This inter-Ministerial committee that deals with food security must address that issue. In the early 1960s and a bit of 1970s, there was a policy that actually broke this value chain such that all these Ministries like the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Industrialization, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Agriculture and all the production Ministries were not allowed to sell their produce to manufacturers. The manufacturers were not allowed to go and distribute the same food. Then the distributor was not allowed to retail. So long as we allow the producer and the consumer at the expense of a certain group in the middle, there is no way we are going to break that chain. That chain must be broken. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we are happy that we have seen some movement in the Government where recently, kerosene cost has been reduced by 30 per cent and diesel has been reduced by 20 per cent. But we need more so that the cost of production in terms of a unit comes down. So, we cannot hide our face in the sand because so long as the consumer down there cannot afford his own livelihood, then we are in trouble. We should have a concerted effort across the political divide without putting blame on one side. We should sit down and reason together and find the way to go. I still prescribe to the issue of relooking at those old policies. There are Ministers who were there at that time who knew that the Government did not allow manufacturers to do distribution and retailing. After selling or buying a bag of potatoes at Kshs200, one packet of crisps costs about Kshs100? This means that there is disconnect between production, manufacturing, distribution, retailing and the consumer prices. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, let our Right Hon. Prime Minister come here and give us a Statement to tell us which way forward. He should tell us the food position to be taken in order to cushion the consumer. Otherwise, none of us here is very safe when the consumer sleeps without food. This is because a hungry man is an angry man or an angry woman. I beg to support."
}