{"id":821273,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/821273/?format=json","text_counter":167,"type":"other","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"famine in Kitui, Makueni and Tana River, where there were floods. Can we sit aside and discuss this issue when we will be in Eldoret? Some kitty can be found to purchase this food and store it for a rainy day, because we will not have as much rain or, possibly, no rain in the next season. This is an urgent matter. Mr. Speaker, Sir, there was a complaint that we have too many ad hoc Committees. However, I do not think any Member sitting in this House will complain about an ad hoc committee on this particular issue of maize. It is a crisis and it has been a crisis. However, a crisis is supposed to be for a short period; how then can we have a crisis for eternity? This is a crisis ad infinitum! Is it due to mismanagement? Who are these people who brought maize from Uganda? Who are these people who are growing maize in Sen. Wetangula’s county, Bungoma County, where land is not available? Those are the issues that ought to be interrogated. These people and their names ought to be made public and just like any other report that we have made, we should make sure that no stone is left unturned. We should protect the farmers of Kenya. Let this principle of Karl Marx of the “haves” and the “have-nots” in this country end. Food is an integral matter of development and it is still the highest wage earner to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in this country, yet we have mishandled it. I am happy that on the issue of coffee, we have found a method, because there are new rules and there is a new board. Sooner than later, the people who are uprooting coffee in Makueni will start planting it because it is going to make money. We are going to deal with the brokers. Can this Committee deal with maize brokers? Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir."}