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{
    "id": 1122813,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1122813/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 282,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nambale, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Sakwa Bunyasi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2511,
        "legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
        "slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
    },
    "content": "countries are on board and some of the leading countries like the US are reluctant to get on board. It is because they calculated the cost of doing it and they realised that the consequences are severe, but it must be done. That balance is the most important thing. However, the arguments that my very good friend and the MP of Mavoko has raised; when you think about it, yes, the London Distillers had been there for a long time. But pollution standards were quite low. We in western Kenya have the experience with the Webuye Pan African Paper Mills that was very important for employment in the region, but whose discharges were a real problem. It has already made every effort to try and reduce the amount that was being sent into the rivers, but the air pollutions were going very many kilometres away. You could still sniff it at night 20 kilometres away. We have to be cautious in our record in the House so that we do not let them off the hook simply because they came earlier or simply because they employ. Standards were not there then, but standards have come. It takes time and costs money. So, it is a process. It is not a one-time event. With that approach, there may be areas in which the public sector, the county governments and the national Government might spend money in ways that facilitate that transition. If we treasure the jobs as we say we do, then it can justify use of public funds, at least, from a socio- economic point of view, to help them transition faster. But I do not think that the location of other allowable industries or facilities like residential areas need to be blamed in any way because it simply means that nobody had raised a complaint at that time. The workers are too frightened to raise it because they depend on that for their jobs. I urge the Committee to be firm on the transition they are seeking. We also run a risk that industries that are associated with colonial powers, not only for Kenya but also seen in other parts of Africa are more stubborn in dealing with those kinds of things. I think the Committee’s balanced approach needs to be emphasised and ensure that it is implemented. With those few remarks, I support the Committee on the balance."
}