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{
    "id": 1186949,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1186949/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 296,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Olekina",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 407,
        "legal_name": "Ledama Olekina",
        "slug": "ledama-olekina"
    },
    "content": "The first question we should ask before we even talk about developing - although I do not have a problem with that - is what it would take to change the land use policy along the river? I believe there are so many studies that have been carried out. When I was growing up, I learnt a lot about communities, for instance the Mijikenda and the importance of the river to their livelihood, their subsistence. I did not hear Sen. Mungatana talk about the cultural activities which these people who live along the river rely on to continue practicing. I believe the best person to educate us would be him. If there is any stakeholder engagement to be taken, the elders who we have now must be invited to tell us how important this river is to them and their cultural activities. I would like to come up with mitigation measures to the perennial floods and water scarcity to the residents of the Tana Delta. It is literally hard to understand when you hear that there is a river that flows 1000 kilometers and drains into the Indian Ocean, yet people have no water. We need to realign our existing resources so that we can prioritize our people. The Ministry of Water and Sanitation and WRA need to seriously take these matters we are discussing here and look at the studies which have been carried out on the benefits and challenges of this rivers flow. We should not just be happy here in Nairobi City County consuming this water, 80 per cent of which comes from River Tana. We should not also be happy with 70 per cent of the hydroelectric power; we should worry about the people in Tana Delta. I expect the Governor of the great County of Tana River to start asking serious questions as to why his people are suffering yet his county is named after that river. It does not make any sense. I want to reiterate on one important thing that the people of Tana Delta closely depend on this river for their traditional subsistence. Any changes to the flow of this river will greatly affect them. Some of the things that can help us learn - and I hope that when we pass this Motion the distinguished Senator can follow up - is for the entire House to invite KenGen to find out if they have carried out any studies on the effects of the release of the dam. I shall take up this is matter with the Committee on Energy. Let us not think about the issue of corporate social responsibility. Why Corporate Social Responsibility when you are the one affecting them? One of the issues that I will agree on with my colleague Sen. Cherarkey is that in this country sometimes we do not really care. It is all about the Benjamins; it is all about money. When we sat here with the former Senator and now Governor of Makueni County together with the current Governor of Nairobi City County and the current Governor of Nakuru County regarding the issue of Solai dam, we came up with serious recommendations yet none of them were adhered to. You ask yourself whether these people have any humanity in them. The people I am referring to are the DPP - because we gave serious recommendations on what should follow - the Judiciary and the criminal justice system in this country because people died. If we are going to reduce ourselves to a talk show in this House, then we might as well fold and go. This Motion should be one that reminds us of the reason why we are elected by people to represent them. I would hope that by the time the Senator for Tana River"
}