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{
    "id": 142447,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/142447/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 425,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mrs. Ongoro",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Nairobi Metropolitan Development",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 125,
        "legal_name": "Elizabeth Ongoro Masha",
        "slug": "elizabeth-ongoro"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I will not talk about what has been presented before, but I want to just make a statement that if it is true that Kenya is 80 per cent arid and semi-arid, then that fact alone should tell us, as a Government and as a nation, what level of importance we should attach to the establishment of the Authority that, in my opinion, is long overdue. It should not be formed only as a corrective measure to correct all the consequences of drought that have been suffered by ASALs, but also as a preventive measure to ensure that our semi-arid areas do not eventually become arid. That, notwithstanding, in the establishment of the Authority, we should ensure that there is adequate allocation of resources, both financial and human, to put in place the right policies that will ensure there are mitigation measures. It is quite interesting that the same regions that suffer perennial droughts also suffer perennial floods. With the kind of expertise and human resource that we have in this country, why can we not have an Authority with the right policies and resources to engage in an extensive programme of dam construction? That way, every year, we can harvest enough water to be used in irrigation throughout ASALs. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, while supporting this Motion, I would like to say that we should not limit ourselves to thinking that Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL), as being only within northern Kenya. If it is 80 per cent of Kenya, then we know we have pockets of ASAL s all the way from the coastal region where we have one of the poorest constituencies in Kaloleni and Ganze, all the way to western Kenya and Nyanza Province where we have"
}