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{
"id": 67650,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/67650/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Nuh",
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"speaker": {
"id": 114,
"legal_name": "Nuh Nassir Abdi",
"slug": "nuh-abdi"
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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, as I support this Motion, I am a bit at a loss when the Government says that it cannot still declare this a national disaster. We get worried and we ask; when does the Government declare a national disaster? Kenyans have already started dying and I do not know whether they want to count the deaths of Kenyans in millions before this Government can consider the drought situation to be a disaster indeed. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it has become apparent that this Government is very good at talking of programs and projects that they want to avail to Kenyans, but very poor when it comes to implementation. More than a month ago, the Prime Minister himself stood in this House and said that because of the La Nina effect, a drought was expected and that this Government was geared towards ensuring that it is mitigated and no life is lost. Mr. Speaker, Sir, just a week ago, you heard Permanent Secretaries and Ministers joy-riding in the northern region in choppers, purportedly trying to assess the situation of the drought. They even came back again and misled his Excellency the President that the drought situation is not at a stage so critical that this Government should declare it a national disaster. It is pathetic! Mr. Speaker, Sir, given the efforts of a disgruntled Cabinet; a Cabinet that is not so well co-ordinated, we are even afraid that we will continue losing lives. Even when they say that the line Ministries are co-ordinated; that they are going to share responsibility, it seems to us the Back Benchers that they want to share blame. That when one life is lost and when cattle are dying, you hear the Minister for Livestock blaming the Treasury; and then you hear the Minister of State for Special Programs blaming the Treasury and the Ministry of Agriculture. Then the Ministry of Agriculture will blame the Ministry of Water and Irrigation that they were unable to provide. This Government is not serious! Even now, presently, the key Ministries have been absent for the better part of this debate and they want us to believe that the Government is doing something. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we are told that the granaries are full and that maize is abundant in the Rift Valley. A bag of maize in the Rift Valley is not feeding the poor peasant in Bura who is suffering! We are told that because there is maize in the Rift Valley, we should not expect people in Bura to die! Even the Minister comes here and laments that the infrastructure is so pathetic that they are unable to deliver the maize and that they have not set the logistics well to distribute this food. It is now that they are crying to the armed forces and the other agencies to come in and help, and yet one month ago, they knew that there would be a drought and they did not do anything about it. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation called us a week ago to ask us of our priorities. The Ministry has been transporting water in tankers to more than 17 villages in Bura Constituency year in, year out, for the last 20 years, and they come here to ask me again what my priorities are when they well know and they have officials on the ground! They promised to avail a vehicle in every constituency and, currently, the water boozer that was in the larger Tana River District has no tyres for the last six months. They are talking of procuring a new vehicle when the vehicle we have in place is lacking tyres. It just needs Kshs200, 000 and it will be up and running and providing water to the people who are suffering. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is about a Government that is not serious; it is not about resources! They should not complain that there is no money in the Treasury. They have money abundantly! It is only that they do not want to co-ordinate their efforts. May be, because the anti-graft war is so much geared in the linings, then the only place to dine and eat is when there is haphazard co-ordination and you have Kenyans suffering. Then, they would say that we put a shilling here and a shilling there, so that even the audit becomes very difficult in the after effects of what has happened. If this Government is waiting to cash in on the disaster and extend the monies to the corrupt so that even it becomes very difficult to assess how much money was spent, then they should be very serious and they should know that we are watching. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this Government should do something and, in fact, I would even urge the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife that because of the drought situation, they should be in a position to afford some substantial parts of the reserves and parks to livestock, otherwise you will have a disaster because we will go for the elephant if we have nothing to eat. So, they have to make sure that our livestock are well so that we do not feed on the antelopes. Thank you."
}