Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 993772,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/993772/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 78,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Langat",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13189,
        "legal_name": "Christopher Andrew Langat",
        "slug": "christopher-andrew-langat"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker for giving me this opportunity to make a comment on this. I want to begin by saying that it is quite unfortunate that the Ministry of Agriculture is not ready to purchase maize and other food crops from farmers during this particular period of time when, the area where the Chair and I come from is expecting a heavy harvest this year. It is very fortunate that this year when you go to areas in the Rift Valley like Narok, Uasin Gishu, Bomet and Kericho, there is a lot of hope that there will be a heavy harvest in the maize sector. When farmers get to understand that during this particular time, the Government is not ready to purchase maize from them, this is like adding insult to injury. If you remember some years back, maize farmers in Kitale and some parts of Rift Valley were so disappointed to the point that they were pouring maize on the roads. This time we must take this one seriously because we are expecting a heavy harvest due to promising rainfall. We are still experiencing a lot of food insecurity in this country. Where I come from, we have seen a lot of food shortage due to disasters such as floods. It is quite unfortunate to mention that distribution of food in this country in skewed. Sometimes you hear that the government is distributing food in some areas, yet in the area where I come from people are experiencing food shortages, for instance parts of lower Bomet; we have not seen even a kilogram of maize being distributed in those areas. Therefore, we still need to question the criteria through which the government is using to distribute food in this country. Last week, I was asking the County Commissioner of Bomet if he is aware of food shortage in some areas of Bomet and he told me that he has written an emergency letter to the Ministry concerned but nothing has happened up to this time. Whenever we hear of food being distributed in some areas, we wonder loud on the criteria being used to distribute food to some areas while some other parts are not being considered. Madam Temporary Speaker, you and I were in the ad hoc Committee which was investigating issues to do with maize. In fact, we are headed in that direction where the country is importing a lot of maize to the tune of four million bags from outside while farmers in Uasin Gishu have a lot of maize and they do not know where to sell it. We are headed back there and sooner or later, we shall form another ad hoc Committee to investigate on the same. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}