Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1186935,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1186935/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 282,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I rise to support the Motion by my brother Sen. Mungatana. I strongly believe when we talk about issues with our rivers such as River Tana, then it is an issue of human rights. It is a human rights issue because across the world and the continent, when issues of scarcity of resources do emerge such as water and its management, it becomes an essential issue of historical connection to those waters as well as natural ownership of the same. The Kenyan Constitution, 2010, Article 19(3)(b) encourages us that rights and fundamental freedoms in the Bill of Rights belong to each individual and are not granted by the State. It is natural to them. Under, Article 21 of the Constitution, it is the fundamental duty of the State and every State organ to observe, respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights and fundamental freedoms in the Bill of Rights. The orientation of Sen. Mungatana’s Motion being discussed today is towards seeking cooperation and reducing conflicts in the wake of scarcity. We have seen in our Continent that with the issue of climate change, the next biggest war in the world we will fight, bigger than previous world wars, will be the war on water and scarce resources. Sen. Mungatana is inviting us today to start thinking about the management of these resources. This Motion recognizes the lack of regional cooperation among stakeholders benefitting from River Tana. It also recognizes in extension, the lack of Government’s engagement in this process. It, therefore, exposes a lot of weaknesses and negligence in the misuse of River Tana that results in the negotiations for propriety coming to deadlocks. Madam Temporary Speaker, you find that agricultural practices upstream are not controlled. I am happy that my brother, Sen. Abdul Haji who has just stepped out, talked about the issue of Agriculture upstream, right from the Aberdare all the way downstream. People start using inorganic fertilizers and pesticides in these rivers without being considerate to the people downstream, all the way down to Kipini who depend on this water even for domestic use. It then becomes extremely bad for the people of Tana River who draw their name from the River Tana. We have these kinds of cases even in our continent. One of the biggest issues was with regard to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam the Ethiopian Government was building on River Nile. This river connects Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan. The 1929 and 1959 Water Course Treaties all recognized that the people downstream that the people of Cairo have ownership more than people of upstream. The people downstream have more honour more than the ones upstream to the extent that those treaties provided for Cairo to have veto powers over projects on the River Nile against riparian States that dotted the entire area of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia."
}