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{
    "id": 1347468,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1347468/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 340,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "then we may never know economic prosperity as a country. This Bill is a step in the right direction. We are amending the Water Act of 2016 to allow the Government to actualize this space. The water sector in our country continues to face several challenges that impact the availability, accessibility and quality of water. Water should not just be available; the quality of what is available to our people is just as important. Access to safe and clean water remains a concern to us. We should never lose the feelings of the people that we represent. Unfortunately, this is a possibility because of our comfortable lives. It is not known to many of us that while most of us in this House and those in formal employment will not struggle for a glass of water to drink, millions of citizens of this country cannot access safe and clean drinking water. This Bill is important because it makes it possible for the Government to tap into other resources and for a proper and considerate fee to make water safe and affordable to all our citizens. Water pollution remains to be a problem that is mainly unaddressed to date. It is attributed to industrial effluence and agricultural product runoff. This threatens the availability of water. Addressing these issues requires concerted efforts to improve infrastructure, enhance governance and promote sustainable water management practices. This is equally important. Even in the many donor-funded projects littered across the country, like the African Development Bank (ADB), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and others. Unfortunately, the national Government and county governments cannot run water management programmes or make them sustainable. Take time to read the reports I table in this House most afternoons about Kitui Water and Sewerage Company and the other water companies across the country. All these companies are loss-making entities. Many of them have serious governance issues, which is part of the challenge we aim to address by privatizing some companies. It has been proven repeatedly that because of the makeup of the Government and the people in Government offices, they are not the best at doing business. The private sector handle and transact better. Unfortunately, in matters that are extremely important, such as water, we have to put in safeguards, so that you do not end up in a situation like in Kenya Power where they are the sole monopoly, they enjoy the economies of scale, but power continues to be beyond the reach of average Kenyans. Even as we take the PPP route in the water sector, what safeguards will we put in place? This is elaborated in the Bill to ensure that as we do water projects run by the private sector, there is reasonable regulatory controls to ensure that Kenyans are not overcharged. We already know what is happening on the ground, for instance, the case here in Nairobi City County where water providers move around with water bowsers. There have been stories - which I do not know whether they are accurate - that they are responsible for ensuring that certain estates in the City of Nairobi do not have water so that their business can thrive."
}