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{
    "id": 59610,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/59610/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 303,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Wamalwa",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 148,
        "legal_name": "Eugene Ludovic Wamalwa",
        "slug": "eugene-wamalwa"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I was also glad to hear the President mention the issue of hunger and programmes being put in place to ensure that Kenyans do not suffer. It is a matter of great irony that in one part of the nation there is plenty of food. Where I come from, in Trans Nzoia, the bread basket of Kenya, we still have maize in our stores and in another part of the country Kenyans are starving. We need to put measures in place to ensure that this country produces sufficient food, so that no Kenyan ever dies of hunger again. It is doable. Malawi which is a smaller country has done it. Through proper priorities and programmes they have been able to turn around their country and remove it from the list of food insecure nations of the world. Indeed, right now they no longer suffer deficit in their food. They are even able to export. Why can we not do the same? We are urging the Government to look at ways of enhancing productivity. We have proposed that it would be in order to establish a fertilizer factory in this nation, so that costs of inputs are minimized. In so doing, we will be able to empower our farmers to access inputs on time and at affordable prices. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, as I speak, in the North Rift, we are in planting season. Farmers are not able to access fertilizer that the Government undertook to supply at a subsidized price of Kshs2,500 per bag. What we have is a situation where a few bags are delivered to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and those big farmers with trucks, who are able to go and sit with the managers, are able to access this fertilizer and carry it off. The small farmers who would like, perhaps, five or ten bags of DAP are not able to access them. We need to provide inputs that are accessible to all. The small ordinary farmers who will be able to get this nation off the list of the food insecure nations of the world too need protection and to be provided for, so that they are able to access fertilizer and inputs at affordable prices. This is not happening as we speak. I am happy that the President mentioned it. I urge the Government to do more in this area, to ensure that we have enough fertilizer in the NCPB depots of Kitale, Moi’s Bridge, Eldoret, Kimilili and other regions that are currently planting maize, so that in future we never ever again have to look at the Indian Ocean to import from outside. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, indeed, the President did mention that we have a general election coming. It is a sad thing to talk of another general election when we still have Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the camps. Recently, I was in Uganda and was saddened to know that we have Kenyans who were affected in the post- election violence, who are far away from home. They were transported as far as Mbarara and Masindi in Uganda. These Kenyans want to come back home, yet no one is talking about them and provisions have not been made for them to be resettled. As we talk of the talk of the IDPs within the borders, let us also remember our brothers who are beyond our borders, in Uganda, so that they can come home too and be resettled alongside those who are being resettled. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we heard hon. ole Ntimama speak about the issue in Maasai land. These are issues that should be addressed seriously. But above all, we, as a nation, have not set our feet on the path of healing and reconciliation. The talk that was there before the post-election violence, indeed, is the same talk that we are hearing in our politics. We are not talking reconciliation. We know that we do all desire to have justice in this country. We also know that in a few days to come some of our brothers will be travelling to The Hague. The mood in the country has been poisoned. What was purely a legal process has been politicized and poisoned. But the time has come when we must think, as the President urged in his Speech, and decide how we can set the feet of this nation once more on the path of healing and national reconciliation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those few remarks, I beg to support."
}