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{
    "id": 1372222,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1372222/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 267,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13599,
        "legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
        "slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
    },
    "content": "through the bulk purchases being proposed in this amendment. What that does is that the public can only rely on Nairobi Water to supply 300 million litres of water per day because 200 million litres are now in the hands of a private company. What happens to that private company? Those private companies will not prioritise the majority of the people of Nairobi who cannot afford to buy water, even at the current rates imposed by the NCWSC. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, you will be commercialising life itself in this City so that those with the capacity to buy water, just like those who can afford to fly over the poor on the Expressway in Nairobi are doing right now. They will be able to purchase all the water available in Nairobi and the ordinary people who are the majority in this county will suffer. This is one of those areas that should not be commercialised. This is an essential service and you must distinguish between essential services and other services. The people of Nairobi can survive in traffic but you cannot survive without water. Secondly, having painted that picture, there is no provision that will then determine or put in place a mechanism for equity. Yes, you have the financial muscle to buy all the water in Nairobi, but should we allow you to do so? What happens to all those other people who cannot be loaded to this private entity that will be supplying water? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I do not see the equity mechanism in the Bill. It would have been nice if they were told that for you to get that commercial enterprise, you must develop extra capacity first before we give you a contract to supply water commercially. However, if they are coming to eat into the currently installed capacity, which I have demonstrated to you has a deficit, then we are going to have problems. Thirdly, I had an opportunity to have a conversation at some point with the Director General (DG) of the NCWSC, Eng. Muguna. He tried to explain to me that water is already a scarce commodity and how they determine who gets water or not. There is a very complex matrix they use for that. You will see that they prioritise important security installations and the Central Business District (CBD) because they want to encourage business to happen. You do not want international conferences happening at the Kenya International Convention Centre (KICC) and there is no water in the CBD. You do not want to have a situation where you have no water at your international airport, for instance. You have seen the outrage that follows when there is a blackout at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). It is the same for water because it is an essential commodity. Then you come to the regions in Nairobi – who gets water on which day and who does not. This is because we are already facing a deficit. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this commercialisation will make Eng. Muguna’s work even worse. If you take away even a single drop of water from the capacity that is installed right now, the people at NCWSC are going to have a problem on who gets water on particular days and who does not get it. There are people who will not get water at all simply because the commercial entities running that water supply will be determining who gets that water and it is will be a commercial relationship. If you have the money, you will get the water every time in the quantities that you want. However, if you are not able to afford it, you are on your own."
}