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{
    "id": 719338,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/719338/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 242,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Lati",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2762,
        "legal_name": "Jonathan Lelelit Lati",
        "slug": "jonathan-lelelit-lati"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Deputy Speaker, thank you for this opportunity. Drought in our country is real. As Hon. Kamama said, we have not seen such a crisis in a very long time. Those of us who come from areas heavily affected by drought, our energies are directed not even to looking for votes in this election year, but to the drought. We have stopped everything else to try and find ways by which our people can survive. Cows are dying and schools are closed. I ask people with farms and ranches with grass to be tolerant because this is a very special period in our country and our people are suffering. I thank the Government because through the Ministry of Devolution and Planning, it has increased food supplies. However, that is not enough. We ask the Government to continue doing the same and increase food supplies to our people because this will only last as far as the drought lasts. Perhaps, we should have a special Budget for drought mitigation within this period of dire drought in our country. We have asked the Government to consolidate all these drought measures together. Right now, the Ministry of Devolution and Planning is supplying some food. The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries is supplying some hay. The Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) is doing off-take programmes to buy the livestock that are almost dying. We want to have one area where all these things are done, so that Government programmes are coordinated. Some people are taking advantage of this bad situation. Buying of cattle by KMC is not enough, but we appreciate the little that they are doing. However, we have people in the Government who are acting like brokers and buying cows at very low prices and selling the same to the KMC at high prices. I ask KMC to get to the ground. Whatever amount of money the Government has allocated for each cow is what the KMC should give to the people. We should not have brokers taking advantage of this desperate situation. This is the time to register voters. If you consider the situation that is in the pastoral areas of Kenya, surely, you cannot have a blanket programme for the registration of voters. The people in the pastoral areas cannot be treated the same way as those who are elsewhere. I would like to ask the IEBC to consider its programmes in the pastoral areas. The IEBC needs to put in place an equalisation programme for the pastoral areas. They need to have a special calendar for our people. If the calendar for registration of voters for the rest of the country is one month, it does not hurt the IEBC to have an extra month for pastoral areas which are affected by drought. I have been in my constituency for the last two weeks trying to mobilise my people to participate in the oncoming elections. I have seen hardships that the people in Nairobi and other urban areas in Kenya cannot imagine. The IEBC machines use batteries. We have no electricity 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."
}