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{
    "id": 1114793,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1114793/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 199,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nambale, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Sakwa Bunyasi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2511,
        "legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
        "slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
    },
    "content": "of water in large parts of this country and the seasonal shortages we experience in almost of all parts of the country with few exceptions. There is also the issue of excess water on a seasonal basis. We know what happened in West Pokot about two years ago. We also know what happens in Budalang’i in Busia twice a year. We need to manage excess water, so that it is not a source of destruction. To do that, we will need to have a long-term plan, so that we can create dams that do not just store water, but also act as checks. Lower areas should not get more than they need. You can regulate that. When you do that, you can produce power and create areas for fishery. You can also create facilities for holidaying and sports. Of course, they will have a challenge of diseases and so on but they can be managed if they are well looked after. If we do that, we will improve the supply and save in areas where water is scarce. Where we have excess water, we can save it and use it during times of shortage. It is almost a crime to let our water run down to Lake Victoria and into the Indian Ocean as we suffer from drought. We are currently suffering severe loss of livelihoods, including livestock. We should review our commitments, particularly in the western part of this country where most of that water ends up in Lake Victoria, from where it flows down to Egypt based on treaties that were entered into a hundred years ago by our colonial regimes. We even went through a phase during which most of the water advisers in East Africa came from Egypt. In essence, they had sent people upstream to ensure that people upstream did not do anything that, in their view, could compromise their supply but we first have to protect our citizens. We can do so within the existing treaties or begin to push for the treaties to be re-negotiated. However, the most important thing for our country, as enshrined in our Constitution, is to provide enough clean water to the citizenry. It is a shame that in certain parts of this country people are dying because of floods while in other areas people and livestock are dying because of drought. We must find equilibrium. We must be able to take care of our citizens by protecting them from those two extreme situations. In areas where people are currently dying of drought, a lot of water flows into the Indian Ocean untapped during the rainy season yet it is not our responsibility to fill the ocean with fresh water to the extent that we deny our own citizens access to clean water. As we manage our water resources well, we must also manage our land resources well. We can build big dams and store water during the rainy season for future retrieval and use. We are at a very detrimental level of water shortage but with time we should be able to catch up with South Asian countries, which are largely dry but do not have water problems. Agriculture is still striving there because they manage their water resources well. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I commend the effort of developing Sessional Paper No.1 of 2021 on the National Water Policy because it is a big step in the right direction. With those remarks, I support."
}