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{
    "id": 1473324,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1473324/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 415,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13599,
        "legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
        "slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
    },
    "content": "guiding principle to disaster management, we must identify all hazards that result from a disaster. The next one I like is under subclause (2) which is enhancing the capacity of the local communities as the frontline to disaster risk management. Many speakers here have given examples of the disasters that have happened in Nairobi. Take an example of the floods that we experienced. If you speak to the people living in those structures along the rivers, no person puts themselves at risk voluntarily. They have been forced into some of these risky accommodations because of their financial standing. The accommodations closer to the river, on top of bridges and all the other unsafe areas are cheaper. If you ask for the rental prices of those accommodations, you will find that they are cheaper than the others. Madam Temporary Speaker, if you speak to the communities there and tell them that this is not an area you should be occupying, you will find that many of them are willing to cooperate. If you enhance the capacity of the local communities there and train them as is proposed in the Bill as frontline actors in disaster risk management, it would be something positive. We should be looking more at the preventive side other than being reactionary and coming down to offer assistance when the disaster has happened. Then there is a third one of transparency and accountability. After the floods that we experienced here in Nairobi, many homes were affected, especially in Mathare and Ruaraka. One of the things that we have continued to say, as a leadership in Nairobi, is that there was no transparency on how even Government response was coordinated and what was required of the communities to do. If you speak to the Member of Parliament for Ruaraka, Hon. T.J. Kajwang’, he is still livid because, initially, the communication that came from the Government was that they were going to demolish structures up to 30 meters away from the highwater line. How that moved to 50 meters and then to 60 meters and structures being demolished way beyond what we had been told is the area that will be affected is something that nobody gives us an answer. We would like that there be transparency and accountability in disaster management and approach to disaster risk management. Then there is the question of the protection of the vulnerable. I like this as a guiding principle, the old, the disabled, the women and the children in these areas must be treated very specially. Under subclause (5); support of the national Government to the county governments, including the local communities in disaster risk management; if you look at the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution, this is one of those functions that is co-shared. If you look at function number 24, disaster management is listed as a national Government function. Under function 12 of the county governments, firefighting and disaster management is a function of the county governments. Madam Temporary Speaker, that support is critical. I will discuss some of the challenges when it comes to the support from the national Government to county governments. We are hoping that there will be greater synergy in making sure that these disasters are managed prudently. 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."
}