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{
    "id": 1191450,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1191450/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 293,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mungatana, MGH",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, the livelihoods of people in the Tana River basin have changed completely. The volume of the water that is coming from upstream going into the sea has receded substantially. The sea has started asserting itself in areas where alluvial soil would be deposited and farming would take place traditionally. This is as a result of the reduced volume of the water flowing down. When the sea asserts itself, the lands become areas of salt deposits. The farmlands have been converted into areas where salt is deposited and, therefore, no farming takes place. Our people have been impoverished. For the whole ecosystem that used to exist, life used to be free and happy, but is no longer there because the whole system has been changed by the power of the sea. The Motion is bringing to the attention of the Nation and this House to pronounce itself that the people who are the bottom have as much right to this water as the people upstream. It also brings in the debate on participation of communities in this country. Some communities are so small that their voices are not heard when big programmes are being arranged. There is no other way that they will be helped if this Senate does not pronounce itself on this matter. Dams have been created upstream and when it is dry season, we pay the price, because there is no water downstream. When the rainy season begins like it has now, the dams are full and water is excess upstream. They tell people living downstream that they need to move to higher ground because they would be releasing the waters. The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has been our greatest enemy downstream. They release these waters with so much energy. You could be sleeping in your house and, in the morning, you find you are not in your bed. People have lost animals in their thousands because water is released and the communities downstream pay the price and make huge financial loses. Was there stakeholder participation by communities downstream when these programmes and development were being done? The answer is negative. When these projects were being conceived apparently for the good of the country, were there any benefits that were transferable to the communities downstream? The answer is negative. Was the Environmental Impact Assessments(EIA) carried out when these projects were being done? How were these reports done? When you look at it, none of these Environmental Impact Assessment reports on the major projects have mentioned the river basin, Garissa and Tana River counties, yet we bear the brunt of all the losses that affect us downstream. There are many experts who have studied river ecology and are experts in lake ecology. They tell us that the water upstream belongs to the people downstream. If projects are being done upstream, the biggest stakeholders are the people downstream. There has been no delegation of Members of Parliament to inspect the projects that have been done on River Tana, or elders from downstream who have been called to be informed the river is going to be used in certain projects. There has been no stakeholder participation. There has been open suppression of the people. There has been no voice given to the minorities whose lives depend on that river."
}