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{
    "id": 1474366,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1474366/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 268,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. M. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13162,
        "legal_name": "Moses Otieno Kajwang'",
        "slug": "moses-otieno-kajwang"
    },
    "content": "National Disaster Risk Management Unit. This Unit falls in the Ministry of Interior and National Administration and was established through an executive order in August 2013. The policy also delegates that function to a National Disaster Operations Centre, established in 1998. It goes ahead to provide or assign responsibility to the National Drought Management Authority, established by an Act of Parliament. At the Ministry of Defence, in line with the constitutional provision that the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) can be called upon to respond to disasters, there is a disaster response battalion. Madam Temporary Speaker, then, there is the Kenya Red Cross Society, established by an Act of Parliament, CAP 256 of 1965, which has been placed right in the centre of disaster response in this country. Sometimes, when we speak about the Kenya Red Cross Society, people think that this is a foreign organisation or a Non- Governmental Organisation (NGO), yet, it is established by the laws of Kenya. So, it means that when county governments contract the Kenya Red Cross Society, it is a government-to-government procurement rather than a government-to- business procurement. You cannot then place a finger on who is responsible for disaster risk management in this country. In the Office of the Deputy President, there are bags of beans, maize and rice, which are distributed whenever there are floods across the country. For those of us who have seen these bags of rice being distributed, the means of distribution is more expensive than the items that are being distributed. I have seen people flying in using state helicopters and Army helicopters to distribute a plate or a dish of rice or beans to flood victims in the areas of Nyakach and Osodo in Karachuonyo Constituency. So, the Senate, in the 11th and 12th Parliament, made a proposition that we needed to have better coordination within this disaster space. I recall that it must have been Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr, and perhaps, Sen. Sakaja, who is now in Nairobi City County, who were spearheading this Bill. This Bill collapsed simply because the other House considered it to be a money Bill. There was no other reason. This is why today, if this Bill has originated from the other House, we are happy to support it, of course, with the necessary amendments. As we support and speak to this Bill, we must remember that disaster management is a concurrent function. The Fourth Schedule assigns that function to both national and county governments. Therefore, we cannot have legislation and entities or new creations that then take away the role of county governments. Madam Temporary Speaker, Kenya is a signatory to the Sendai Framework on Disaster Risk Reduction"
}