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{
    "id": 721413,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/721413/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 41,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Midiwo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 184,
        "legal_name": "Washington Jakoyo Midiwo",
        "slug": "jakoyo-midiwo"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Speaker, this is a case of somebody who lives in a glass house throwing stones. Hon. Gideon Ochanda has not mentioned that this guy is a foreigner exploiting Kenyans. I have been here for about 15 years. The Dominion Farms were conceived in my first five years in Parliament. I was sitting in the Siaya District Development Committee (DDC) and I vehemently opposed the coming of this American guy to Yala Swamp. That is because he had been chased from Ghana because of corruption. The day I opposed this gentleman who has refused to appear before Parliament, on Tuesday the following week, I was in the headline of one of the dailies as having led Siaya DDC in approving the giant rice project and he dare call Members of Parliament (MPs) and the people of Siaya corrupt! The same day in the afternoon, I saw the guy on television in State House. How he made his way there, only God knows. I have opposed this guy from day one. He has put my name in the Press. Instead of appearing before the Departmental Committee on Lands, that crook decided to schedule a Press conference at the 680 Hotel and made lengthy and long-winded allegations against us. One of the things he has been saying--- I am not accusing the President. I will tell you about him in a minute. That guy came to grow rice. There is no Kenyan who is benefiting from that project. Siaya County has 1.7 million people. So, an investor cannot take 22,000 acres of land and then claim and brag that he has employed 500 people. In that region, there is a complaint of premature births. You cannot rear any animal. All the birds in Lake Kanyaboli are gone. Somebody gave him a licence to construct a sugar factory in a swamp. The chemicals coming out of that land is what I am opposing. Stop discharging them into our lakes and rivers. The guy came with a small document like this and said he was going to give us schools, hospitals and roads. I was there the other day, to hold a Harambee for a school which is a mud house next to the swamp, 15 years later. In the second term of President Kibaki, he was invited to see that project. He was flown there and when he got out of the plane, the first question he asked was: Where is the interest of the locals? I used to be alone but when he asked that question, all the MPs who used to support him came to my side. The President said he cannot do that project in Kenya without having out-grower plans for the locals. That guy who is a racist is still in Siaya. When we opposed him, he went and bribed the former councillors of Siaya and Bondo county councils to get approval. Beyond that, he got an approval to extend acreage of his land. That guy was chased away from Ghana because of corruption. If we want sovereignty, we cannot use foreign money to keep our people poor. I was there the other day and if you look at the faces of our people there, you will cry. That guy produces 400 bags of maize per year even now when there is drought and exports them to Sudan. Our maize is exported to Sudan and our people import maize. Why are we crying of hunger when 22,000 acres of land are under rice production? Where is that rice so that Kenyans can eat it? He keeps doing this from place to place and he must go and we oppose him. I asked the current Governor of Siaya, Rasanga, to help his people by sitting down with the mzungu, and negotiating their interests. He has never done that because he does not know his job. This is a problem for Kenya because that is a proper food basket for our people. As you have said, that billionaire must appear before the Departmental Committee on Lands so that they can interrogate him. We want them to ask him about the schools, hospitals and roads on the 22,000 acres of land and why he is mechanizing the farm and spraying chemicals on our people. If this Parliament cannot help the people of Siaya, there is nowhere else for them to turn to."
}