Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1271914,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1271914/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 39,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Soipan Tuya",
    "speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 926,
        "legal_name": "Roselinda Soipan Tuya",
        "slug": "roselinda-soipan-tuya"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir. In response to the question from Sen. Okenyuri, we recognize the status of our natural resources in the country at the moment. We have rampant destruction, illegalities happening within our forest ecosystems and very worrying levels of pollution. I assure this House that sustainable waste management, which includes dealing with pollution of our water sources, is key in terms of the priorities of the Ministry of Environment. Beyond the Nairobi River, which is just one ecosystem, we are putting measures in place through NEMA. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when you look at our mother law, the National Environment and Management Coordination Act of 2000, the only other time that any amendments were done to this law were minimal amendments in 2015. It is, therefore, outdated. We are at advanced stages of presenting the law to the National Assembly and eventually to the Senate for very critical and robust amendments that need to go into place. This move is for the law to be in step with the technology that is currently in use globally and to help us move from the very ad hoc ventures that we have been engaging in as a country. These includes ecosystem restoration, one of which being the national tree growing initiative that we are undertaking in the country. Mr. Speaker, Sir, you will notice that we have been planting trees and moving away. If we had been having a comprehensive approach to the ecosystem restoration in this country in terms of the number of tree growing activities that have happened, we would not be where we are now. That speaks to the issue of pollution. We have very isolated activities that have been done in this country where we have activities around cleaning a river and that is the end of it. We cannot continue doing that. To answer Sen. Okenyuri, one of the things we are doing is the review of our mother law for the environmental conservation. Through our Kenya Kwanza plan, at the core of it is a very well detailed plan, which is a value chain approach that speaks to the sustainability of initiatives that we undertake to ensure that we see visible changes in the country concerning the ecosystem restoration. Mr. Speaker, Sir, should there be any specific question that is in line with the rivers and water bodies and pollution control, then I undertake that I will come back here with more details to respond to whatever attendant questions that might be there. I thank you."
}