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{
    "id": 774922,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/774922/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 186,
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    "content": "million acres of land that has been set aside. But let us be confident that even if we devolved some of these resources--- Mr. Speaker, Sir, some of the reasons that make the state of the national Government want to put one million acres under irrigation, to be honest, sometimes it is the potential for big tenders which carry with them big rewards. Some of the rewards might be unlawful while others could be lawful. So, we need to push some of this thinking and some of these projects to the county levels because ideally, agriculture is a devolved function. Therefore, ideally, irrigation should also be a devolved function where, at the centre, what should be happening is policy formulation and just doing the linkages. This will ensure that whatever the counties are doing is not too disjointed. We need to see more of the money – the Kshs14 billion that is being set aside for irrigation – going to counties. If the national Government has worries about how the counties will use that money, then it can be pushed out as conditional grants in the manner that I proposed – a conditional grant that a county would put 10,000 acres of land under irrigation. If no county is willing to offer themselves, I would, on behalf of Homa Bay County, say that we would be very happy if the Government could give us more money and we can put 10,000 acres under irrigation. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the county neighbouring Homa Bay, Kisumu County, has always had rice irrigation schemes. The interesting thing about these schemes is that a good number of them were established in the 1970s or in the many days past. There are very few irrigation schemes that we have established in the recent past. The question would be whether we are getting better or worse as a nation. I would have expected that successive Governments should have identified additional areas where they could put up irrigation schemes. As a Member of the Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, I know that this matter will come before us. Definitely, as we proceed, there are certain provisions in the proposed Bill that will need to be looked at. As a Member of the Senate, and pursuant to Article 96, when I look at a Bill, the first person whose interest I have to put forward is the county government. I hope we will not pass a Bill that will recentralize irrigation and matters agriculture, water and food security. These are the functions of county governments. We will have to look at certain clauses of this Bill which put a lot of power in the hands of the national Government. Sometimes we think that the involvement of county governments is achieved once there is a nominee of the Council of Governors (CoG) to some parastatal or council. That should not be the case. We must look deeper and go beyond saying “a nominee of the CoG or a few consultative meetings should be undertaken.” We must find a way through which irrigation and the Irrigation Bill is one that is driven by counties upwards, so that it is more of a bottom-up rather than a top-down kind of strategy. Mr. Speaker, Sir, with those remarks, I beg to support the Bill, subject to the amendments that will come up in the Committee stage."
}