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{
"id": 90933,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/90933/?format=api",
"text_counter": 226,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr. Kuti",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Livestock Development",
"speaker": {
"id": 60,
"legal_name": "Mohammed Abdi Kuti",
"slug": "mohammed-kuti"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there were also several hon. Members who compared the performance of Botswana to that of Kenya. I would like the hon. Members to understand that Botswana Meat Commission and Botswana Vaccine Production Institute took the blueprint from the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) and the Kenya Veterinary Vaccine Production Institute (KEVEVAPI). The blueprint is from Kenya and the staff who went to establish it are Kenyans. Some of them decided to stay on and are still there. I would like to tell the House what exactly happened. In 1986, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank introduced what they called Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). In this policy, certain key Ministries and sectors were privatized. Unfortunately, the livestock sector was privatized as a non-essential sector. Therefore, the dips, extension services, surveillance, regular immunization, hiring of staff and purchase of vehicles that the hon. Members are talking about were all paralyzed. The dips were handed over to the communities. Veterinary services were privatized and, therefore, the Government was only a skeleton. The last vehicle to the livestock sector was bought in 1986. Likewise, the last staff were hired in 1986. When I was in Entebbe and we were meeting all Ministers for Livestock from Africa and this policy of IMF, that is, the SAP, applied to many African countries, in that forum I stood up to question whether that policy actually was a sabotage and intended to retard the most progressive sector by privatizing it. I applaud countries that ignored that policy and went ahead to invest in livestock. After livestock was set aside for that period, it is only now that we are refocusing. It is still contributing 12 per cent to the GDP and almost half of what the agriculture sector is contributing to the economy. So, that policy needs to be condemned. I would like to go on record saying that it is even important to look back and see the purpose or intent of that policy. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, having said that, it does not dampen our spirit. We will regain the lost ground and I am sure now the Government is refocusing. The KMC collapsed because it lost support. Of course, there was also mismanagement, corruption and the rest. I would like to report that now we are slowly getting back on track. I would also like to say that the KMC is going to breakeven at the end of this month and we will start posting profits, because we have started engaging in very aggressive marketing of livestock outside the country through what is called contracted slaughtering, where business people bring their animals that they get order for outside and slaughter at the institution or the institution itself strikes deals with business people outside and, therefore, exports animals. That has contributed to the increase in the price of animals and the primary producers are getting better prices for their livestock. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, just to rush through what some hon. Members have said, although I do not have time to go over everything, with regard to hawking of milk, I fully support the Kenya Dairy Board. I fully support that and we will ensure that, that stops. I think it is happening. The only area where there is a problem is camel milk which is being brought from Isiolo, Garissa and other places. We will try to see how we can improve the transportation of that milk so that it can be brought in a cleaner way. We do not have a milk processing facility for camel milk apart from one small company which is trying to come up. With regard to the issue of camels by hon. Muthama, I would like to beg this House to allow our catering department to give contracts to camel butchers so that camel meat can be supplied to this House just like beef. The same should apply to its milk. I am sure that many diabetic hon. Members will benefit from camel’s milk if it was supplied. Parliamentarians would have an advantage of tasting camel meat and milk. I concur with him that the camel is the animal of the future. With regard to Artificial Insemination services, I fully concur that we need to really subsidize the cost. I am trying to negotiate with the Treasury to give a subsidy to the Artificial Insemination station at Kabete so that the station could, in turn, pass down more subsidized prices to farmers. That is because we really need very good semen at affordable price. About the issue regarding our office, we were asked: Why rent an office instead of buying? We have land opposite Kilimo House. We have started the construction of an office there but due to constraints, that project has not featured recently in our budget. We would like to push for that so that we can have our own office. In fact, it is very difficult to have the Director of Veterinary Services based in Kabete, the Director of Livestock Production based in Hill Plaza while our Headquarters are at Kilimo House. That makes our operations very difficult. I would like to end by saying that, that is a sector with high potential. If the necessary resources are allocated, we are up to the task. The officers are all competent. They are well trained doctors from Kabete. They are even serving in other countries as witnessed by the hon. Members. We can deliver. We are better off than when we started. I would like to have the support of this House. I appreciate all the contributions. We will continue to push for the Ministry so that more resources are allocated and the performance can continue to improve. With those few remarks, I beg to move."
}