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"content": "in Tana River while some people are buying maize in Uganda to bring to the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB). How will we deal with the question of food security if we have mismanaged our forests; we have mismanaged our farmers in the Rift Valley and there are scandals left, right and center? What is the purpose of this Bill if we cannot deal with small vices? Mr. Speaker, Sir, I have just mentioned that there is already a dispute about the conservation of the Mau Forest, which is a water tower. Sen. Olekina was here the other day complaining that in the Division of Revenue Bill, we did not include Narok County in the negotiations to protect the water towers, we included Kericho County. I saw the Senator complaining about Mau Forest, but the national Government included his county in the protection of water towers in Kericho. Mr. Speaker, Sir, as we continue to discuss some of these Bills and food security, we must tell Kenyans that in some of the utterances we have made, we have failed them. Where is the maize that came from the Galana-Kulalu Project? Why have these people not been charged? What was the yield that was supposed to come from the Galana-Kulalu Project? I wish you would have given some of that money to Makueni County and, may be, we would have done a better job. Therefore, although we are attempting to look for a new framework of law, you wonder what the problem was with the old framework, where there is the NIB. There is nothing new we are doing in this Bill. We have not changed the parameters and, just like in the proverbial forest, we have just changed the monkeys but the forest is still the same. It has corrupt people who do not think about this country and who are busy doing the wrong things. Farmers in Rift Valley are still keeping maize in their silos even now; people are selling a bag of maize at Kshs1,100. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Senate Majority Leader said that he will no longer plant maize and that he will plant avocados and other things. Therefore, as we speak about irrigation, it is predicated on the provision of water. We must say it loudly that we must preserve our forests. We must deal with the people who are cutting trees like murderers. Those people who are polluting the Nairobi River and putting sewer in it, we must deal with them the same way we would deal with a person who has shot a child, because they are murderers. Otherwise, we will just do the same old thing, create another authority, appoint our friends and nothing will happen. If we experience floods like we did earlier, we will send the Senator and Chairperson of the Committee on National Security, Defence and Foreign Relations to do famine relief. As we speak, my dear colleagues, we are going to have famine in this country. We had floods three months ago, but in the next six months, we are going to have famine. Tana River, where my dear friend comes from, had the worst flooding during the last rains; but you will similarly experience the worst famine in another few days. Is it bad planning? Where is the policy on irrigation and conservation of water? Mr. Speaker, Sir, as far as I am concerned, on this question of food security in the Big Four Agenda, we have put the cart before the horse. We must first of all, deal with the small things that are affecting the availability of clean water, rainfall and generally the management of agriculture. It surprises me when I travel abroad and find that coffee is still the most expensive product from Kenya. However, coffee farmers are uprooting their coffee trees The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}