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{
    "id": 719321,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/719321/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 225,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ochieng",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2955,
        "legal_name": "David Ouma Ochieng'",
        "slug": "david-ouma-ochieng"
    },
    "content": "Thank you so much, Hon. Deputy Speaker for this opportunity to move the Motion whose Notice I had given earlier. The Motion seeks to discuss the response by the Government of Kenya today, to the drought that has affected the country in the last few months. How has the Government responded to the biting effects of the drought? This is not just one of the crises facing the country today. Indeed, this afternoon, you had so much interest in discussing the crisis that has been the doctors’ strike. I will not go into that so that we focus on the issue of the drought. Today, more than ever before, there is data and there is information and drought is extremely predictable. You can say without doubt that there will be drought tomorrow, next month or next year. So, we are not in that stage where elders are looking towards where the sun will set or the sun will rise to say whether there will be rain tomorrow or not. We have the tools, equipment and mechanism to know there will be drought next year. So, the challenge we have in this country is not about the drought. The challenge we have is how to respond to drought, how to respond to the consequences of drought and how to ensure we alleviate human suffering every time there is drought. It is always interesting to see Kenyans scampering every year at this time, livestock dying, human beings dying and everybody not knowing what to do as if we did not know there will be drought. The reason I brought this Motion today is not because I come from an arid area. It is because drought affects this country equally. Every part is affected by drought. There is some misconception that drought only affects North Eastern Kenya or that it only affects arid areas. As I speak to you, streams and rivers that never used to dry in Nyanza are now drying. Boreholes are dry. Rivers are not flowing. People cannot access water. Livestock cannot feed. Livestock cannot get water and these are things that had been forecasted. The Government all along knew that there will be drought between specific months. But what happens in an election 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."
}