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{
"id": 1213586,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1213586/?format=api",
"text_counter": 399,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mungatana, MGH",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Therefore, I am grateful for this proposal. We shall surely find a way in which we can bring it in the Third Reading, to see how we will be able to bring that thought captured within the law. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as I finish making my response, I would like to say that this is not a small matter. It is going to affect all of us. I am grateful for what my colleagues have said. I know that some Members of the National Assembly are also listening and following this. I take the comments by the Sen. Cherarkey that they should also support when it comes to their side concurrence, so that we do not have an issue because this affects all of us. This is something that needs to be looked at as a Parliament issue; an issue that affects all of us and is creating space for us, as Parliament. It is also not lost to me that the people of Tana River County have had a problem; those who are down at the area of the Delta, where River Tana meets the sea. They have had a problem because we have had upstream developments that have continuously reduced the volume that goes down to the river. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I brought a Motion here and the House agreed with me because they saw the suffering of the people at the delta. That Motion is so critical because what has happened in areas like Mathomba, because of reduced power, the river has cut away. It has now turned to go into other areas. Villages, 10,000 households; the river has turned away because upstream, the developments have affected the strength and the power. We pay twice when it is the dry season because the river moves away. Therefore, people have a serious water problem. When it is rainy season, they release the water upstream and it destroys us downstream. That Motion is so critical to our people and yet, although the Clerk wrote to the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation, they have not come back to the Committee in charge of water, land and resources to tell them that this is what we are doing. They have not told all our officers that no approval of any project shall be done without consultation and doing proper social impact, economic and environmental assessment. No just in the areas where they are trying to dam or do something like that, but also downstream. What is the social economic impact assessment? Even for those that have taken place, what is the current situation? You find that as of this time, the Ministry just received the letter from the Clerk and they kept quiet. We will, therefore, be forced to go to court if new upstream activities start and we are not told. Why? It is because this law was not in place at the time we passed that Motion. Just as Sen Cherarkey was saying, at Solai Dam, it was not possible to do anything at that point other than make resolutions. This is a law for posterity. When things like these are passed in this House, we will have responsible officers. We will not just say “Ministry of Water,” the way the letter has been written: “The Ministry of Water, Department of irrigation,” you need to do this and that, but there is no responsible officer being named. In this Bill, going forward, for all resolutions of this House, there will be a requirement on the Clerk now to identify the responsible officer and direct him to do what is required by that Motion and the resolution of the House."
}