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{
    "id": 1009425,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1009425/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 122,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Igembe Central, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kubai Iringo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1574,
        "legal_name": "Cyprian Kubai Iringo",
        "slug": "cyprian-kubai-iringo"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Bill. At the outset, I want to congratulate Hon. Ichung’wah for this Bill. It is a well thought-out Bill that will give a foundation on how we handle disasters in this country. I hope the Authority will live to the wish and the mandate of the Bill, so that we can change this country from its reactive nature towards disasters. Our country is prone to droughts, heavy rains and other disasters, but unfortunately, we only react once calamities befall us. We do not prepare for the same. We have equipment and qualified personnel on weather forecast, but even when a forecast has been done, nothing happens until a calamity occurs. You will recall the dam that burst in the Rift Valley and killed many people. There were warnings from the experts, but we waited for it to burst for us to respond. We have floods every year in Budalangi, Nyanza, and Lower Tana. This is a common phenomenon, but no one bothers to make prior arrangements for people to be evacuated. We have left that work to NGOs, especially the Kenya Red Cross. These NGOs are now horses carrying carts of disaster management. Mother nature will always be harsh, either positively or negatively, and we must be ready. I hope the management Authority will recruit people with enough expertise to do proper forecast and management. Hon. Deputy Speaker, there should be a kitty in the Ministry concerned, through the National Treasury, to take care of disasters and repair roads or bridges swept by water. When disasters happen, people are marooned and cut off from their villages, places of work and relatives and it takes a long to time to provide a solution because there was no prior arrangement. I hope this Authority will trickle down to the county governments because there are minor disasters that should be handled at the county, sub-county and village levels. It should be handled under the same umbrella so that we can manage these disasters."
}