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"id": 99415,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/99415/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Lekuton",
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"speaker": {
"id": 66,
"legal_name": "Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton",
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"content": "In Northern Kenya, for example, when you look at the Budget of Isiolo South, Laisamis and other areas, we see that agriculture is given five or ten times more. But we very well understand that livestock is the basis of our societies and economies. That is another discrimination that comes from there. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is a serious outbreak of livestock diseases because of low capacity of disease monitoring and surveillance which the animal technicians can fill. The Ministry is seriously understaffed. It has an ageing staff. It has a complement of 5,264 officers against an authorized establishment of 14,740 officers. There is a deficit of 8,000 officers. This has created acute succession management challenges. The latter can be primarily attributed to the Governmentâs failure to come up with a clear policy to streamline this sub-sector. They have failed to utilize the huge skills of the animal technicians who practise and have been trained by the same Government. We have to understand that the Ministry of Livestock Development lacks adequate transport. When diseases break out in different areas--- If it were not for the few extension officers we have out there, we would be faced with a lot of disease outbreaks in this country. This country has lost billions of shillings through diseases, poor quality livestock handling and the aforementioned reasons. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you allow me, I would like to tell this House the importance of livestock and the potential of this sub-sector. The population of Kenyaâs livestock is 12.5 million head of cattle. That is a large number to be handled by a few surgeons. We have 8 million sheep, 11 million goats and 850,000 camel scattered all over the country and yet getting very little attention from veterinary officers. We very well understand that the issues in this Bill on the livestock sub-sector have been dwelt on in very many Government papers. For example, the National Development Plan of 2002 â 2008; the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper for Wealth and Employment; Strategy for Revitalizing Agriculture (SRA) 2004 â 2012; and Kenya Vision 2030. In the first Annual Progress Report on the Implementation of the First Medium-Term Plan 2008 â 2012 of Kenya Vision 2030 - weak policies and legal framework, which this Bill is going to address, in the livestock sub-sector are cited as a major weakness. This Bill is trying to address those issues. I understand that there could be challenges from various people with regard to this Bill. However, this is a poor manâs Bill. It is a Bill for that person who was trained by the Government for years to get a Diploma. That was money from the taxpayer. We have the 1963 colonial Act called the Surgeons Act. It bars these people from practicing. How do you expect a few surgeons to cover the whole of Kenya? Countries like Botswana and Ethiopia have had animal technicians who have helped soar the meat production in those countries. I am very much aware of the well-planned scheme by a group of anti-reformists who are also veterinary practitioners who are out to ensure that Members of Parliament do not vote for this progressive Bill because of their personal interests. This is the Bill for the poor man. It is the right of every Kenyan to be given an education and to be allowed to practise. The spirit and letter of the Surgeons Act is colonial and outdated. The white veterinary doctors did not anticipate that blacks would one day practise. That is where the discrimination started. This Bill is an attempt to put in place a well-co-ordinated legal framework that will not only regulate and conduct the law as proposed in this Bill, but also open avenues for trained animal technicians so that they give service to the local people in the villages, especially in northern Kenya where we lack veterinary surgeons. A district like Marsabit North which is 66,000 square kilometers is served by one surgeon. Most of them spend time in their private practice thereby forgetting about the poor man in the village and yet they stand to oppose a Bill that seeks to help the poor villagers realise quick services that will save this country from a lot of economic turmoil. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we must understand that this Bill is not an attempt to lock out the veterinary surgeons from business as most of our colleagues here are scared of. It is only a complement to the existing surgeons. The only thing the technicians are asking for is to be recognized and be given legal framework to operate under and thus make a living. The livestock farmers and the nomads cannot continue to suffer because of scarcity of qualified surgeons. We cannot put ourselves in a situation where we believe in the status quo that was set in 1963. I said that most surgeons have private practice where they make more money. That is why we have inefficiency in the Ministry. The funny thing is that the same animal technicians are the same ones who compile reports and give them to the veterinary surgeons who in turn print them. The animal technicians are, therefore, competent enough to practice under proper regulation. That is all we are asking for â regulations that will govern their practice, legally and fairly. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Botswana, Ethiopia and many other countries have gone ahead of Kenya. Why are we not moving ahead in the area of livestock production? It is because we have not been able to put mechanisms in place to help us realise whenever there is a disease breakout. In Pokot, for example, a report takes one month to get to Nairobi. That is why we need the passage of this Bill so that the technicians in the villages report on a daily basis what is happening in those areas. At the moment, we do not have that mechanism. In 2008 alone, Kenya lost one-quarter of her exports of 4,000 metric tonnes of beef to the European Union (EU). Why? It is because of the issues I have talked about. That opportunity was taken by Ethiopia and Botswana because we had a serious foot and mouth disease in the country. Before I conclude, allow me to state that if this Bill is passed and the law enacted, this country will never lose such an important opportunity. This is the time Members of Parliament should realise that we must give our youth employment. We cannot deny them jobs because of a few selfish people who want to hang on in that cartel of denying well-trained young men and women their jobs. I believe that the current Veterinary Surgeons Act is discriminatory. Being a Member of the Committee on Equal Opportunity, I will not sit down and see poor people who have used their little money to get educated being refused licence to practice in a capitalistic society like Kenya. We are a nation of entrepreneurs and yet we are being held back and told: âYou cannot practice this and thatâ. We must, as a country, initiate homegrown solutions instead of believing so much in international treaties. Botswana and Ethiopia have done that. We have over 6,000 qualified and trained men and women. These people have been trained by the Government in our own institutions. They have been trained by the taxpayersâ money and given certificates for passing examinations. Despite that, they are not being recognized. We must create avenues to absorb them so that they can have a livelihood by putting their skills to proper use. This Bill has seven parts. I will be very brief so that I can give time to my colleagues to contribute. Of course there is the preliminary part which bars a person from practising or carrying himself around as an animal technician unless he is registered under the Act. The second one is about the establishment of powers and functions of the Council. It is well regulated and entrenched in law. This part reads: â--- provides the establishment of the Animal Technicians Council whose membership will be drawn from various stakeholders.â The various functions of the Council are listed. The Council will have a Chief Executive Officer, just like any other organization."
}