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"id": 183967,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Kombo",
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"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to this Motion. Firstly, I want to thank Mr. Namwamba for bringing a Motion that is really pro-people. I think that is what hon. Members should be doing to ensure that Motions that benefit their own people are brought to the House. As other hon. Members have said, the problem of Budalangi is not yesterday's: It has been with us year in, year out, yet no solutions have been found to make sure that the people of Budalangi do not keep on suffering. If anyone has gone to Budalangi during flooding, that is where you find people displaced from their homes. So, internally displaced persons (IDPs) did not only arise from the crisis we had in January. The people of Budalangi have been perpetual IDPs; they are displaced by floods. When they are displaced, they go hungry. When they are displaced, their 2742 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 15, 2008 children do not go to school. When they are displaced, or during the floods, their schools are swept away. Therefore, even if a parent wanted to take a child to school, there would be no school to take that child to. That is why this Motion is targeting people who have suffered since 2000. How do we help them to stand on their own feet? I honestly do not see a problem, whether legally or technically, in identifying people who have suffered since 2000 and giving them support so that they can stand on their own feet again. That is what this Motion is all about! I do not think there are millions of people in Budalangi. I am sure we can identify them. If the Government is unable to do so, the hon. Member, Mr. Namwamba, can take you to the families that have suffered, and which we need to bring back to their feet. That is what the Motion is all about! I do not think it is too difficult to do what it seeks. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, but as we talk about floods, I think long-term solutions to them have to be found. Long-term solutions can only be found if the Government and the Ministry involved come up with a lasting policy. The question of damming the rivers that drain into Nzoia River, so that by the time it reaches Budalangi it is a gentle river, has been talked about by many people. We can tame those rivers that flood Budalangi, if we dam them upstream. When you construct a dam, you obviously can also produce electricity. You can have irrigation schemes going on in other areas and, therefore, produce more food. So, those are some of the solutions that the Ministry has not been thinking about. It should do that. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the rivers can be tamed further by proper afforestation. Today, those rivers flood because people have cultivated along the river banks. Those are some of the practices that we need the Government to look into, and make sure that there is proper afforestation upstream and also, people are not cultivating on river banks. So, the crisis is cross- cutting. It is not just the Ministry of Water and Irrigation. I think the Office of the President and the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife should come in so that, together, they can work together to ensure that the river is tamed as it reaches Budalangi. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, in all that, I think the issue of fair distribution of wealth has been touched upon by the Mover and the Seconder. Indeed, it is true that if the floods in Budalangi occurred elsewhere, solutions would have been found because people would be worrying about their own areas!"
}