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{
    "id": 67661,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/67661/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 271,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Githae",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Nairobi Metropolitan Development",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 159,
        "legal_name": "Robinson Njeru Githae",
        "slug": "robinson-githae"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I was completely misunderstood. What I said was that we should go back to our traditional foods; that is the solution. Nutritional foods include other kinds of meat. We should also partake of the same. Mr. Speaker, Sir, what I am saying is that we need, as a matter of urgency, to tell our peasant farmers the right crop to plant. For example, last year we had a bumper harvest in Ukambani after a period of 10 years. Going by history it means they will get another bumper harvest after 10 years. So, for nine years, whatever the plans, it will be a total loss. We know that place is suitable for growing cassava, millet, cowpeas and other traditional food crops. That is the solution. Mr. Speaker, Sir, we also need, as a country, to make a decision. Spain is drier than Kenya, yet they have got more water than they need. This is because they made a policy that ensures that not a single drop of water enters the Mediterranean Sea, and they have succeeded in that. They only have two rivers in the whole country. After every five kilometers, there is a dam. Therefore, after four years all the dams were full. They have got so much water they do not know what to do with it. Here we are building dams that cost Kshs1 billion. We do not require dams that cost Kshs1 billion to build. If you go to Mr. Ndambuki’s place, in Kaiti, and you will see that he has built a dam at a cost of Kshs7 million, which is bigger than the dams we are building for Kshs1 billion. If you divide Kshs1billion by about Kshs7 million you can get 1,000 small dams. That is the solution and not these mega dams we are talking about. The solution is with us. Mr. Speaker, Sir, coming to the arid and semi-arid areas, we should copy the policy of the colonial government. They used to set a maximum number of livestock for a given location, so that you could only keep 10,000 cows or 20,000 goats in a certain location. If there was excess, they would order the sale of the excess livestock, because that was the solution. The livestock we have cannot be sustained by the area that produces grass. That is the solution."
}