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"id": 1103963,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1103963/?format=api",
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"speaker_name": "Sen. Kang’ata",
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"legal_name": "Irungu Kang'ata",
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"content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, thank you. I am very happy with that intervention from one of the drafters of this Bill - I think they are two. If I get his intervention and information right, he says that this Bill is creating a body to bring together functions. Maybe the clarification that I may require is to know is whether those other entities, as they currently exist, are established by a statute. Are they departments within a Ministry? I say so because when you look at proposed Section 3 of this Bill, it clearly provides for the establishment of the NDRMA. I get the impression once I read this that web are creating an authority with all the powers, just like the way we have done in the roads sector. We have Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA), Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) and Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA). Those are the kinds of entities we are talking about. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in actual sense, it is a form of upgrading of the existing department that deals with disasters. That is good idea and I agree because maybe to that extent it is correct. However, those are the advantages, I would imagine, that exist currently when you have what you call downgraded entities. They are not fully-fledged parastatals, and therefore, there will not be a Director General or a board. From where I sit, and allow me to disclose my political persuasion, I belong to the political theory of small governments; the idea that the Government should remain small and efficient. Every time we create a parastatal, we create a fully-fledged state body. I am not so sure that is when we are increasing the efficiency. I get the impression that it is when you are creating more opportunities for “big boys” to get jobs and Kenyans to be taxed more; that I do not agree with. I get that impression. Maybe I will be persuaded, definitely, once I hear the response from the promoters of this Bill, and I say this with a lot of respect, not only for this Bill, but also for many Bills I have seen that, particularly even in the National Assembly, every time there is a legislative proposal, there is an embedded idea to form a board. I will give you an example. Currently, we have a standalone board that deals with Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). With all due respect, surely, I do not want to go that stain, but I am just trying to imagine. A standalone board that deals with FGM is fine. Let me give you another example; the human rights body. We have an overall body called the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). It is a Government body that deals with human rights. Then, we have another separate entity that deals with women rights. Again, I think it is also Government funded. I thought women rights are human rights. Another entity deals with children matters. I thought children rights are human rights. If we want a lean and efficient Government maybe, can we not consider, as Kenyans, to collate and amalgamate all those entities? This is so that we have fewer people we are paying using tax money."
}