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{
    "id": 1473327,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1473327/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 418,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13599,
        "legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
        "slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
    },
    "content": "ones to do this. We cannot open this to everyone, including lawyers like myself. I know the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) will come for me but it is the truth. If you look at Clause 20 (1) on the qualifications for the Director General of the Authority, in fact, on this one, they do not even ask for a degree. It just says ‘he shall be competitively recruited.’ We are going to run into problems. If you go to Clause 36 (2) and (3), on the head of the County Disaster Risk Centre, they just say ‘he or she must be a person who holds a bachelor's degree from a university.’ I would prefer that we specify that these people must have training and knowledge in disaster management because these are courses that are offered by our universities. I want to go to Clause 49 which attempts to create an offense for making or circulating false alarms. I know that it might have been well intended but this is a clause that I believe is subject to abuse. We must measure between the constitutional right to free speech and trying to fetter on that particular right by introducing very dangerous provisions such as this. On the other hand, you might find yourself not being an originator of a message on WhatsApp, for instance, that there has been a fire in Mradi. In fact, the way we knew about the fire in Mradi, most of us saw the information on social media, platforms such as WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook. You can imagine you creating an offense, that if somebody posted something saying “there has been a fire in Mradi” and then the clause talks about if it is not in the magnitude that you have said it is, that is now going to be an offense. I believe this is a dangerous trend and especially in this regime that looks for excuses to arrest people. This is a very dangerous tool in the hands of Kenya Kwanza Government. Finally, I want to go to Clause 53 (1), which provides that the people who are working currently at the National Disaster Operations Centre and the National Disaster Management Unit will be seconded to the Authority for three years. I do not understand and would like somebody to explain to me why a period of three years. These are people who are already working there. That if you do not wish to join the authority for those three years, you can go back to your parent institution or apply afresh to the Authority for you to be employed as a worker there. That is another dangerous tool, especially in the hands of a Government that we do not trust; a Government that has shown that if you are not a shareholder and apply for a job and your name is Wafula, you will be told you have no shares in the Government and be thrown aside. This is not a tool I would want in the hands of Kenya Kwanzaa Government or any other government. Let it be clear that the people working in these two institutions will transition to the authority without any hindrance whatsoever. This is because they have been doing this job and should be absorbed. Madam Temporary Speaker, with those many remarks, I do not know if I should say I support or I do not because I have problems and I have also seen positive things. I am hoping that when it comes to the Committee Stag, I will be proposing those amendments to deal with those issues that I have raised. 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."
}