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{
    "id": 1241567,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1241567/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 257,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Mumma",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to the Statement by Sen. Ogola, on the issue of the compensation of those who give their land for the building of the airstrip, Infrastructure development is a vital enabler for the growth of an economy. It is important that even as we have recognized this in our blueprint Vision 2030, we operate in such a way that when we come up with infrastructure development, we do not have a lot of delays because of failure to consult with communities or failure to effectively compensate communities for giving up spaces, in order for this infrastructure to be put in place. Even as we speak about compensation of land, I wish to bring to the attention of this House that, that will just be a bandage approach to addressing the issues of development infrastructure. In an earlier moment in this House, I indicated that there is need for this country to come up with a social risk management mechanism to ensure that beyond the environmental assessments that we do, before we do development infrastructure, we need to expand to also do the social risk to development and the need to assess the social impacts of the infrastructure that we come up with. When we come up with a need to put up an airstrip or an airport in any place, we will do the due diligence in terms of social consultation with the communities, so that when that infrastructure happens, everybody is happy. The communities who have given land are compensated and the communities that are going to be impacted have asked questions about what this will portend for them and the infrastructure development can proceed without a problem. As we do so, we need to also take it seriously, so that this does not come by way of just a Petition. It is a serious political and policy concern that the Government needs to embark on, so that we avoid having to bring another Statement on Kakamega Airstrip or another Statement on Busia airstrip because we will have had a national policy that holistically addresses these issues. The airport infrastructure is so key yet, in our country, it is underutilized and underappreciated. For instance, we have Kisumu Airport and Eldoret Airport, which if they had routes to Europe directly for horticulture, would enable the Western Kenya region, which is a strong agricultural region to have trade. That trade will strengthen the economy and that economy will take on jobs, and we will achieve what all of us want to achieve. Therefore, I wish to support and say that beyond what the Statement says, we need to consider issues of social risk management in the development of infrastructure and provide a holistic law that can protect both communities and investors in this infrastructure development. I thank you."
}