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{
    "id": 1473318,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1473318/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 409,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Oketch Gicheru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, thank you for giving me the opportunity to comment on this Bill, which proposes to create yet another body to examine our national disaster management issues. I am persuaded that, in the spirit of what the Senator of Kakamega has presented, we want to avoid as much as possible any tussle or lack of collaboration with the National Assembly in the Bills that come from the National Assembly. Therefore, sometimes it is important to support some of these Bills. However, I appreciate the thought process that the Senator of Kakamega has expressed himself on this Bill. Disaster is not something that you can put an omnibus Bill on. Disasters, by nature and by design, occur at different levels. We have natural disasters, which you can call the vagaries of nature, and we have human-made disasters. All these disasters that we see happening in this country have their specific causative factors and their specific response mechanism. In fact, in some cases, even preparedness that they must have. Creating another body to come to take each cluster and then put all of them together under one body will do a disservice to how, as a country, we approach disaster readiness and response. Let us take an example of a drought. The strategy for dealing with drought in the country cannot be given to one authority to figure it out. It is just very simple as such because we will need a scientific approach to that particular disaster of drought. Sometimes in some places, you will need to predict and advise farmers if, for instance, they need to change the season for planting, and the kind of seeds to plant. In some cases, if we have severe drought, we need to look for opportunities for resilient seeds from abroad or food to intervene for those who have gone without food. It will mean that naturally, a drought-response agency should be in place to respond to that particular drought problem. For instance, how would fire disasters that we keep seeing in Nairobi depend on a national authority to respond to them properly? I have seen the Governor of Nairobi struggle even to identify the causative factors of fire in Nairobi. The fire disasters are causing a lot of havoc, health hazards and even waste of property in the County of Nairobi. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}