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{
    "id": 885456,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/885456/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 462,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Farhiya",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13179,
        "legal_name": "Farhiya Ali Haji",
        "slug": "farhiya-ali-haji"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I also wish to thank the Senator for Bungoma, Sen. Wetangula for bringing this Adjournment Motion to discuss a fundamental issue, which is also a fundamental right according to our Constitution. According to Article 43(1) (c) of the Constitution, Economic and Social Rights, every person has the right to be free from hunger and to have adequate food of acceptable quality. The same Article 43(1) (d) further says; “to clean and safe water in adequate quantities”. For most of the Arid and Semi-Arid areas (ASAL), even when there is no drought, there is no enough water in those counties. We are in breach of the constitutional rights of Kenyans. From 2008 to 2012, there was a lot of investment in this country regarding early warning systems. Those early warning systems work. What is lacking is goodwill because like this drought was already pre-determined that it was going to be there as early as October. Given that is the case, why are we allowing Kenyans to die of hunger? For me it is an indictment not only to the national Government but also to the county government. For how long are we going to respond late to issues that we are aware of and, in the process, lose people’s lives? Is it that we do not value lives? Madam Temporary Speaker, according to an assessment done by NDMA this month, it has been reported that by this month there are already 865,300 Kenyans that are food insecure. If these long rains fail, another 1.1 million Kenyans will be food insecure. Those that will be food insecure by August, including in my own county of Wajir--- I hope my Governor is listening and I hope there will be plans in place even if the national Government does not do anything about it. By the end of August, there will be almost 2 million Kenyans that will be food insecure. Therefore, I think we should be preparing for those ones and not wait until people die then we start acting. Part of the reason why I think that we are food insecure in this country, not once but every other time, is due to corruption. Like I said before, we already have early warning systems that work. It is not that they do not work, they work but because of corruption we do not have enough dams. It is true that during a similar time last year, there was flooding everywhere. Garissa is food insecure right now but in the same Garissa, there was flooding; River Tana burst its banks around this time last year. So, there was plenty of water. If there was enough money set aside to harvest that water that was getting wasted, then, today we will not be---."
}