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{
    "id": 1009443,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1009443/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 140,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Ndhiwa, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Martin Owino",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13449,
        "legal_name": "Martin Peters Owino",
        "slug": "martin-peters-owino"
    },
    "content": " Thank you so much, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I thank him too for doing that. When disaster strikes on any community or individual, they want to see their Government swing into action. That is not happening because there is no coordination and enough resources for it. That is why I am supporting this Bill, the National Disaster Management Authority Bill. Disaster is a cycle and it has phases. Phase one is response which other colleagues have talked about. It is key when you appear as a Government in any area that has been hit by a disaster. The second phase is the management of the disaster. It is important to consider the elements of a disaster. The previous speaker has talked about it. One of them is the warnings, evacuation, search and rescue, assessment of the damage, compensations and support. Last on the elements line is prevention. It is usually referred to as disaster preparedness. When we establish the National Disaster Management Authority, one of the elements that will be important to be established is the research division, so that we can know how disasters evolve and how they can be prevented. The object of this Bill speaks it all. It is to establish a centralised system of responding to and managing disasters in the country. I am from the lake region and, as we speak, we are losing many people due to capsized boats. There is no one to respond to such disasters. There are no speed boats that can be coordinated to respond. In my constituency, there is a river which is notoriously known for hosting alligators and crocodiles. You can find that when they strike and the person is taken down, we only have local divers with no equipment at all. In addition, people can camp there for two weeks or more looking for their loved one with no Government face at all. At least, you can get guys from the Red Cross coming. All this is happening because we are not coordinated and we have not put our resources in that area. The other element we should look into when this Bill comes into operation is the element of funding. We are in the era of programme-based and itemised budgets. All those elements I talked about, if not funded, will remain in the bookshelf as literature and nothing will be happening. I want to urge our colleagues that this Bill ought to have been passed like yesterday. This is because Kenyans are suffering from one disaster to the other. Some are repetitions because we are not prepared. I, therefore, urge that we pass this Bill as quickly as possible. When it comes to the budgeting time, let us put more resources into this area so that Kenyans can feel that they have a Government that is responsive and which cares for them. With those remarks, I support."
}