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{
    "id": 736630,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/736630/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 263,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Eng.) Gumbo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 24,
        "legal_name": "Nicholas Gumbo",
        "slug": "nicholas-gumbo"
    },
    "content": "Going back to where I started, the budget-making process is nothing more than a covenant with the people. One of the key cogs of that covenant is the guarantee of any Government to feed its people. Anybody who has been keen on my contributions in this House since I had the privilege to step into this august House for the first time on 15th January 2008, must have noticed that I have been very consistent and indeed it is an underlying, almost principle that you cannot aim to be a developed nation when every year you have to hold out begging bowls in order to feed your people and yet when, you look at the design of our country; Kenya should have the ability to feed its people. This does not require grandiose programmes. Our country as we know it today is an expansive 583,000 km2 of land. Our country is one-and-a-half times the size of Germany. If you focus on the aspect of rainfall, the average precipitation in this country is 1.5 metres, namely, 1,500 millimetres. That is a huge amount of water. That amount of water translates to 874.5 m3 of water a year. The engineer in me tells me that if you were to harvest just 1 per cent of that water, you will guarantee every Kenyan on a daily basis 500 litres of water. The average domestic requirement for water in this country is 50 litres per person per day. We need to design very simple schemes, and it is already happening in Yatta in Machakos. Yesterday I was watching a programme in the upper parts of Baringo where people are guaranteed of food security based on rain water. The problems of this country are simple and achievable. What we lack is getting the right priority. I have just seen gabions being dug in villages in some of the driest parts of Baringo and they are able to provide water all year round for their crops. If you are able to harvest just 1 per cent of the water we receive from rainfall in this country, 500 litres per person would mean that we have an extra 450 litres per person including new born children, which we can then use. It therefore means that every household would have enough water to use. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, just add me one minute so that I can conclude."
}