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{
    "id": 603518,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/603518/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 149,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Barua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1529,
        "legal_name": "Ejidius Njogu Barua",
        "slug": "ejidius-njogu-barua"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this important Bill. From the outset, I strongly support this Bill which is long overdue. This is one of the Bills which are important for good governance. If we do not have access to information and if information is not accurately disseminated, it is going to be very difficult for the country to be governed in a democratic manner. I am happy to note that this Bill implements, in particular, Articles 33 and 35 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010. In this regard, the Bill is timely although I have heard members of the CIOC saying that the Bill is delayed. Information is power. Information is good for decision making. If you do not have access to information on whatever you are doing, it is more unlikely that you will make good decisions. If we make bad decisions as Members of this House, we will not be able to serve our people effectively. So, access to information is necessary for everybody who deserves information. I would like to emphasise that in terms of development of a nation, and in particular sustainable development, information is an equally important factor of production just as labour and capital are. If one has the required labour and capital but lacks proper information, it becomes very difficult to get a good mix of those two factors of production and come up with a good product. Hence it is only information that can come as the third factor to ensure that the capital and labour are utilised for the benefit of development. Information is only useful if it is properly processed and disseminated. Dissemination of information is very important for understanding. How information is packaged determines how it is understood and hence how it is consumed. So, it is important that people who have information disseminate it to the communities in a way that the communities understand. Of late, we have seen the emergence of many radio and television stations and they are broadcasting in many local languages of this nation in addition to English and Kiswahili. It is very important that the information reaching the population through the media is accurately presented. As a representative of peasants who are mainly producers of coffee and tea, we find it very difficult to understand why we can spend a whole year farming coffee without knowing what the price of that coffee will be. The information on the bare minimum cost of coffee or tea per kilogramme will encourage farmers to produce more. Famers in Kirinyaga County and many other counties that produce coffee and tea produce it blindly hoping to benefit from the auctioneer. The auctioneer will give the sellers of any commodity the lowest prices possible. I would like to propose that the Government should make an initiative of telling the farmers the bare minimum that they should expect at the end of the year. To get a kilogramme of coffee, you need labour, fertilisers and many other things. The farmer can spend Kshs70 to produce a kilogramme of coffee but at the end of the day, he gets Kshs60 per kilogramme. The whole thing becomes unviable. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we, as farmers of tea and coffee, want to be given that opportunity to know the reserve prices and we shall not get anything less than that at the end of the year when we sell our crops. Distorted information is one of the biggest drawbacks to moving forward and to development. Right now, we are having El-Nino rains which have affected infrastructure across the country. The most affected infrastructure are road networks especially murram or earth roads. Yesterday and even today in Gichugu Constituency, some people have been propagating negative information and telling people that the money that is meant for the El-Nino rains is with the Members of Parliament. Every county has Kshs150 million for emergency response to the The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}