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"content": "I would encourage the distinguished Senator for Isiolo, and allow me to congratulate you for being one of the few distinguished ladies who were elected in a competitive arena--- I came to Isiolo and I saw how you are liked by your people. Keep it up. My supporters appeared to like you too. I would encourage the distinguished Senator to put some little time in research and bring to this House how much money we have sunk in drought mitigation, management and all those drought related activities. This must be billions if not trillions of shillings, yet the people are still where they were. They still walk for 2,000 kilometers looking for pasture. I have met Somali herders from Bula Hawa, Habaswein and Garissa in Turkana, just walking on and on hoping that the horizon will bring pasture and water. We should not allow this. Budgets are passed, money is allocated and appropriated and when it gets there, you find people building gorofas in Nairobi’s Eastleigh and Westlands at the expense of the ordinary people. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it has come a time when we need a paradigm shift. You remember somebody came up with an idea of fish ponds, and people reaped big money. You would find somebody going to Mandera to construct a fish pond when they know that the evaporation rate there is 90 per cent. Which fish would survive where the evaporation rate is 90 per cent? But money was pocketed and people left. The Government books would indicate that 100 fish ponds were constructed in Mandera and Wajir, all in the name of mitigating drought. Now, they have come up with a new Idea “mega dams.” The easiest engineering construction you can do – and you know it - is to create a dam. All you need is to go where there is a water passage or a river, put an embankment and create a reservoir. Tell me where you can do that for Kshs16 billion or Kshs17 billion on a river with gorge. All you need is to get cement, sand and strengthened wires and put there to block a river, and you will have a dam behind you. Where on earth, except in Kenya, can you do that for Kshs20? When you ask about all this, you are told we are mitigating drought and helping pastoralist. At the end of the day, the Kshs20 billion is sunk, the dam becomes a white elephant, there is never any water and nobody is held to account. This is our country. In areas with rain deficit like Kajiado, Narok, Garissa, Kitui, Isiolo, Marsabit and Turkana, whenever it rains for just one week the place is greener than the Mau. This tells you the level of concentration of humus and fertility in the soils in those areas, but we have neglected them. Those of us who look for leadership just engage the people in those areas because of votes. We go there and tell them all the nice things, for example, that we will create a Ministry responsible for those areas and make one of them a Minister. When we make one of them a Minister--- As Dr. Ali said, there was a distinguished gentleman called hon. Elmi who was decent, fairly honest and straightforward. He was given a Ministry with no money, structures and nothing to do. He was just roaming around Nairobi, with a tarboosh on his head, moving from office to office seeking what to do as a Minister. Those are gimmicks of using people who are disadvantaged for political gain. We must change this. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes"
}