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{
    "id": 670365,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/670365/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 262,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Aluoch",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 5,
        "legal_name": "John Olago Aluoch",
        "slug": "john-aluoch"
    },
    "content": "Lake Victoria often know that I have piloted them on it. There a few who know that. Hon. Grace Kiptui knows that I have piloted her on the lake. Hon. Kaluma was afraid. He did not come on the boat. We do not seem to know that if we were to properly utilise Lake Victoria in terms of transport and tourism we would gain a lot. We need to know that the last navigation map for the lake was done in 1910. We do not know which dangerous straits on the lake are and which could cause a calamity very soon. The Kenya Maritime Authority (KMA), which is in charge of marine safety and training, has set out regulations which will be tabled in the House very soon. The House needs to pay particular attention to those regulations when they come. There is also need to look at the Merchant Shipping Act and see, not just how we can utilise Lake Victoria, but also the Indian Ocean so that we do not just confine ourselves to fishing only in this debate on the Motion. We should see what Madam Rose Nyamunga meant. She did not just refer to fishing. It is everything to do with water and how we can make use of it. As Members of Parliament, we need to empower our people. I know for a fact as a lawyer that when these regulations become law, even the fishermen who use small canoes to fish in the Indian Ocean, Lake Victoria and Lake Turkana will not be allowed to go on the lake if they are not licensed as coxswains. What are we doing as Members of Parliament through our National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NGCDF) bursaries to empower our young men and women to train as coxswains? I am proud to say that in Kisumu West we are doing that. We are training coxswains in preparation for tourism and lake transport very soon. I wish to advise my colleagues to do that if they are serious about empowering the youth. Let us train them on how they can utilise the lake. I want to conclude by saying that successive governments in this country have marginalised the Lake Victoria region. All the industries that we rely on have been killed. The cotton industry was killed completely. Kisumu Cotton Mills (KICOMI) Factory died. The sugarcane industry has been killed. Pan-Paper is in another region altogether, Hon. Sumra. The rice industry is struggling. The only thing we are left with is God-given waters. I want us to look at how we can utilise the waters, not just for food but also for trade."
}