Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 821271,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/821271/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 165,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13156,
        "legal_name": "Mutula Kilonzo Jnr",
        "slug": "mutula-kilonzo-jnr"
    },
    "content": ".: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. I expect that this Select Committee will interrogate this matter in detail in terms of fertilizer and planting of maize. I hope that the Mover of the Motion noticed that the sugar scandal was caused by a gazette notice. Is there another maize scandal in the gazette notice? One million metric tons of sugar was brought into this country and we lost a lot of money because of that gazette notice. Is there another scandal in this one? These are some of the things this county must investigate. Mr. Speaker, Sir, on maize storage, I remember that in the last session of Parliament, we approved a request by governors to manage the storage of grains as part of their agricultural mandate. Is this something we need to interrogate? I am told that our grain storage facilities are hired; that they are not managed by the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB). Is that fact or fiction? I am also told that maize dryers are only in the Rift Valley; is that fact or fiction? This is true to the extent that the aflatoxin you find in maize in lower Eastern is as a result of the absence of dryers. These facilities, ideally, ought to be available to all maize farmers all over the country and particularly in grain storage facilities. If these grain storage facilities are then being hired to politically connected individuals, is it not time that, first, we give them to counties and, second, we allow counties to start doing this themselves? Mr. Speaker, Sir, we have a glut of ndengu and other crops that have been planted during the last season. Therefore, in terms of addressing this matter, I would personally request that this Committee interrogates this matter in great detail. How much money is reserved, for example, for buying mbaazi and ndengu, such that there is a glut where Sen. Wambua is coming from? They are already complaining that they have too much food. Kitui County is complaining that it has too much food because of the rains. The national Government ought to have a specific reserve in terms of funding that ought to take care of produce other than maize. Mr. Speaker, Sir, food security is not just about planting; it is about storing. The story in the Bible of the seven years of plenty and the seven years of drought applies. After this glut that Kitui and Makueni counties are complaining about, there will be 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."
}