Entry Instance

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

{
    "id": 1354573,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1354573/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 399,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for allowing me to contribute to this Motion. First, I thank the Member for Mandera South for bringing this Motion to the House. I send my condolences to the people of Ganze for losing two people due to the El Nino floods. We have, once again, failed as a country because we were caught flat-footed by the El Nino . Warnings were given on time, but respective Government departments did not take the necessary precautions to ensure that such calamities are averted. There are currently many people in Ganze, especially those who live near river banks and swampy areas, who cannot get out of their houses because they are surrounded by water. We have not received any help from the national Government or county government. Over 1,000 people in Ganze are living in dire conditions and need to be evacuated. No support has been forthcoming so far. Those currently administering examinations have experienced many problems. A case in point is that yesterday, examinations in a school in Mitangani Location, Ganze, that were supposed to start at 8.00 a.m. started at 8.00 p.m. because roads are impassable and bridges have been swept away. There was no way the examination papers could get to the school on time. Help could not come in time because we were told that there were contingency plans to ensure that if roads are cut off, there would be helicopters that are hired by the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC) to take examination papers to those schools. That did not happen. Imagine a student waiting for an examination that was supposed to start at 8.00 a.m., which ends up starting at 8.00 p.m. Teachers told me that they returned the completed examination papers to the containers at 1.00 a.m., which is very sad. We never learn from past experiences as a country. I remember that I was a student during the last El Nino in 1997. I sat for my Form IV Examinations at Godoma Secondary School. We used to start our examinations at 4.00 p.m. We are still facing the same problem almost 27 years later. We need to wake up as a country and take disaster preparedness seriously. In the last three weeks, we have suffered because of heavy rains and there has been no help. I support the sentiments by my colleagues that the Government should declare El Nino a national disaster. The forecast for this week shows that we should expect even more rain. If people are suffering like this, what will happen if these rains continue for the next two to four days? I urge all the concerned State departments to wake up from their slumber and help the people on the ground. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker."
}