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{
"id": 1556465,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1556465/?format=api",
"text_counter": 123,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Mungatana, MGH",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "When some people hear the names of the 12 countries, they wonder how we are related to countries like Zambia. If you look at the list of member states, we have Angola, Burundi, the DRC, Zambia, Uganda and so on and so forth. I had the fortune of serving as Commissioner in the Common Markets for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Competition Commission for six years. I know when I go to Zambia, I feel so comfortable because they speak like us, their English intonation is like ours, they dress like us and I even found Pokomo names there. If you go down to Malawi, you will find a place called Salima and it is a city equivalent of Kenya's Malindi. You find very good English and Swahili speakers there and you feel totally at home. Mr. Speaker, Sir, all of us from the Great Lakes region are all the same. I am very happy that Kenya was able to take a lead role in the discussions on climate change. Today if there is excess rain up here, outside our borders, the effects will come plummeting all the way to Kenya. They will go all the way down to the Great Lakes region, all the way down to Zambia and Mozambique, because the climate that we are dealing with here in Africa and in the world does not know boundaries. The physical boundaries that we have created are not boundaries for the climate change. It is real that temperatures have been rising, rainfall patterns have changed and the amount of precipitation being received has continued to rise within the Great Lakes region. It is good that Members of parliaments from this region met in Livingstone, Zambia, and discussed what we as nation or team could do about climate change. I know many times when the Great Lakes region converges, people tend to discuss peace and security, but the problems our people are facing because of climate change are real. In fact, it is a very good idea that we who are in positions of authority to represent our people continue to meet within the Great Lakes region to ask ourselves what we will be doing with these rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, rise in precipitation and the increase in the waters within the Great Lakes region. What are we going to do? What common joint strategies can we adopt so that our people are protected within these regions? Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am very happy because I have read this report. One of the fundamental resolutions that was made in this meeting is that the parliaments of the Great Lakes region must come up with legislation that will help with climate change adaptation. This legislation ought to be uniform in the region. Why I say this? This is because you will find, for example, Kenya has passed various legislation in the area of climate change, adaptation and mitigation measures. However, some of our member states have not legislated on climate change. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it was my hope and I will still keep recommending this, that a model law be enacted for purposes of legislating on climate change and adaptation within the Great Lakes region. Our various parliaments, when we go back home, will have adapted a model law that can be brought and adapted into the Kenyan, Sudan and Tanzanian circumstances. We must have a law within this Great Lakes region, so that we are able to say this is what we planned to do as your leaders and your representatives in the House. The other thing that this conference resolved was that parliaments must play their role of oversight in the region. When disaster comes, a lot of materials and relief is 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."
}