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{
    "id": 851489,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/851489/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 408,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Homa Bay Town, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Peter Kaluma",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1565,
        "legal_name": "George Peter Opondo Kaluma",
        "slug": "george-peter-opondo-kaluma"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for the judicious exercise of discretion. I come from a constituency which is deeply associated with fish. We may be forgetting but we have the capacity as a country to be the nation exporting fish to other countries. People think we are only talking about fish from our lakes and internal water bodies, which are several, but we are forgetting that our exclusive economic zone in the country is over 200 nautical miles into the sea. I joined the team of Kenyans, as a lawyer on law of the sea, which delimited the maritime areas in Kenya with the Kenya Navy. I can tell you going deep into just 50 nautical miles we could not sustain ourselves there. There is nothing like China or any country that has a sea area which is bigger than Kenya. It is that we have not developed our capacity to exhaust the resource in fish stock and our exclusive economic zone. Even our territorial sea, which is 20 nautical miles into the waters alone is not enough. So, I join my colleagues in thanking the President for putting a stop into this importation. I would request it not to be limited just to China but any nation whose fish is being imported to Kenya should be stopped. As we do that, may we think of how to better fish production in the country. We are giving a lot of money each year towards fish production but you would confirm with our records that while it is associated with a place like Nyanza province, there is nothing like aquaculture or fish ponds being done there. We are teaching people to produce and love fish in areas where we cannot produce to the level where it is commercially gainful. I request His Excellency the President that this is a good step towards stabilising this industry. I believe if we stabilise the fishing industry, the contribution of this particular area to the GDP will be higher than what the Mover of this important Motion has placed before us today, if we can move firmly in that direction. Let us take this as a step towards maturing this sector. When you go to Luo Nyanza today, what you are told is that the Luo merely eat what in the local language is called mgongo wazi . The fish fillets are brought to Nairobi. The Luo, who has been associated with fish, lick boiled remains with skeleton frameworks like we are animals. We want a situation where if we are going to invest in aquaculture, we take those things to places like Nyanza. I know this was part of the economic marginalisation which went to some sections of this country. With the handshake and the peace in the country, which is being supported by all of us, we want to see development initiatives being taken to every corner of the country based on the potentials of every region. It is a Motion that we needed to talk more about. I note that time is up. I hope we can develop this debate beyond this Motion."
}