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{
"id": 1372179,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1372179/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wamatinga",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13582,
"legal_name": "Wahome Wamatinga",
"slug": "wahome-wamatinga"
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"content": "important to note that water supply being a devolved function, the county governments which have been starved of the budget from the like Ministry are left to do the reticulation. Some of them rely on very old infrastructure. I have seen some counties lose as much as 70 per cent in terms of non-revenue water. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, to be able to address this, we must come up with a comprehensive solution. Since, some of the water infrastructure goes cross-counties, we need to have water development agencies as envisaged in the Water Act of 2016, so that the issues of water bodies that are crossing counties can be addressed. It is also not lost to us that development of water infrastructure is quite a costly affair. Some of the mega dams that are proposed by the Kenya Kwanza Government cannot be realized within our budgetary allocation. Looking at the balance sheet of this country, it is important that we come with options that will make this realizable. This is one of the ways to make water a credible commodity, just like electricity and roads. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, having said that, it is also important to note that water being a devolved function, we need to reinforce the operationalization of the Water Act of 2016 by empowering the water service providers. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, this cannot be done with the kind of small budgetary allocation that they get. Therefore, it is important for us to change the approach we have been using. We must be deliberate on having a paradigm shift in the way that we approach the financing of this infrastructure. Consequently, if left to the counties, some counties will never be able to provide their citizens with water because of the budgetary allocation and the infrastructure. For some of the counties, the technology required is not available at that level. Therefore, it is important that we come up with a law that will ensure that the national Government is able to provide the bulk water. This can then be transferred to the service providers, who can then reticulate it for consumption. Additionally, the same applies for irrigation. We know of the High Grand Falls Dam that is proposed in Tharaka-Nithi County, which costs about Kshs500 billion. However, there is no way that county which receives just a couple of billions, will be able to ever realize that. Looking at the long-term benefit of water as a tradable commodity and of such dams, it is important that we put a legal framework in place that will encourage investors to come into the country or even local business people to team-up and put up mega dams that will have several advantages. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for example, the High Grand Falls, will be producing about 1,000 megawatts. That alone would be enough revenue to pay for the cost of the construction of the dam, not to mention about thousands of acres that will be brought under irrigation. Therefore, as much as we are here in the Senate to protect, promote and see devolution work, we must also be pragmatic enough to realize that some of the functions that are supposed to be devolved cannot be achieved with the kind of small budgets that are located."
}