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{
    "id": 1009466,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1009466/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 163,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Emuhaya, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Omboko Milemba",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13328,
        "legal_name": "Jeremiah Omboko Milemba",
        "slug": "jeremiah-omboko-milemba"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I join the rest of the Members in supporting this Bill, the National Disaster Management Authority Bill. It is a Bill that wants to consolidate the issues of disaster into one unit – an Authority which will coordinate all the agencies which deal with disasters in the country. We will have a centralised point, a command center where issues of disaster can be managed from both the levels of research, predictability of disaster and even handling of the same disaster. This Bill is quite good and comprehensive. This is because it touches on several items, among others, the establishment of the Authority itself, the functions and the powers that would be managing disasters. That one has been handled very well in Clauses 3 to 21. The Bill also handles what is very important to me and what should be important to all Kenyans and that it is, financing of that particular Authority. This is so that we know where the money will come from and how to finance the Authority that is dealing with disasters in the country and always regulate, whether it is underfinanced or overfinanced. Furthermore, it even talks about how that Authority will also be audited so that we can know how the money that has always been appropriated by Parliament to disaster management has been used. The Bill further talks about the roles of the Authority at the county and national levels. This should also go a long way to remove any sort of confusion or competition during disasters. I also hope that as we enhance this Bill, we shall be able to widen the Authority so that it can handle any kind of disaster. Currently, we have all sorts of disasters, though very few are mentioned here. However, even schools can burn. This is like what we had in Rift Valley where a dam collapsed. Yesterday, Musingu High School was on fire and nobody knew what to do or who to turn to. In many situations, people just go there to witness and see. What I saw in Musingu High School is that everybody was watching and taking photographs, selfies and using their phones to post them. Disasters are broad. They range from droughts to diseases in some parts of the country. There is also terrorism. There are floods which are regular and somebody said some are predictable. We have landslides and collapsed buildings. Moreover, disasters do evolve with time. In 1979, nobody would have talked about terrorism as a disaster. It was not as common as today. So, as they evolve, this Authority, I believe would be able to also do some research. I like the contribution that came from the research point of view, so that they are able to see the other new dangers and spheres that disasters may be heading to. This does not mean that the Authority should only be limited to that but again, the Bill has given authority and a window to the Cabinet to also regulate this. We hope by allowing that space to the Cabinet, it should come up as a stronger unit to manage disasters in our country. A caution would go to the universities and other colleges that pick up on every other thing that is now coming up contemporarily and start training learners without regulations. Sometimes back, when disasters became a real issue – and especially because of terrorism - the universities rushed and started training people in disaster management. They overtrained those people. We also saw the same thing with actuarial science. We have to tell our universities not to exploit opportunities like those ones for their own benefits. You will find that we have too many learners outside the field…"
}