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"id": 249315,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Munya",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Office of the President",
"speaker": {
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"legal_name": "Joseph Konzolo Munyao",
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"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, from the outset, I would like to thank Mr. Oparanya for bringing this important Motion. It shows that we care and he also cares about lives that are sometimes lost and property that is destroyed when disasters strike. But it is important to, first of all, understand what framework we operate in as a Government, when dealing with disasters and the capacity that is already there. After the El Nino rains that destroyed most of our infrastructure and caused a lot of suffering in this country, the Government responded by creating the National Disaster Operation Centre (NDOC) in 1998. This centre is manned 24 hours. So, it works 24 hours because disasters can strike any time. This centre is manned by personnel from various Ministries and various departments including the Department of Defence (DoD), Kenya Police, Ministry of Water and 4016 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES September 19, 2007 Irrigation and Provincial Administration. So, it is a multi-Ministry and multi-departmental centre. It is not a centre run by one particular department, even though it operates under the Office of the President. The Office of the President is the co-ordinating centre. But you need personnel, resources and technical support from other departments to be able to respond to disasters. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the mandate of the centre is to monitor all disasters on 24 hour basis and to mobilize national resources to combat rapid onset of disasters. It also co-ordinates disaster management activities and collaborates a network with other stakeholders in responding to disasters, either when they have happened or preventing them in case they are predicted. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, To fulfil its mandate, the NDOC performs the following roles: Co-ordinating disaster management activities at national level before, during and after a disaster; to ensure all key personnel and volunteer agencies are informed so as to activate disaster contingency plans; it also translates decisions of the National Disaster Co-ordination Committee into action and transmits instructions to relevant Ministries and departments; and, it also prepares inventory of resources and assets countrywide, for use in the event of a disaster because the resources and the assets that may be required are not at one particular place because disasters are varied. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, even if you take one centre, there is no way you can be able to bring all the resources that you might need because disasters are varied. They are not the same! It can be a fire disaster, a landslide or people drowning while they are swimming. It can be anything! It can be something that we cannot even imagine. So, it is not possible for a Government to have one centre that has all those resources. That is why you need a co-ordinating centre that can be able to mobilize resources from wherever they are at any time. Disasters can strike at any corner of the country. So, even if you have an authority at one place, how will it be able to respond within the short time that it is required, if you do not have a co-ordinating centre and one Ministry that has reach across the country like the Office of the President, specifically, the Provincial Administration that has reached the villages? That is why the centre is manned by the Office of the President and the involvement of the Provincial Administration is very important in the timeliness of being able to respond when disasters strike. The centre also prioritizes a list of needs for donors to meet short-falls in relief supplies because sometimes the Government may not have the required resources at that particular time depending on the magnitude of the disaster. It is not just our Government, even in the United States of America (USA) when hurricane Katrina struck, they needed aid from outside because it was not something that was foreseen and which the Government could have been ready to handle on its own. That is why sometimes even international and local donor support is required when disasters of a big magnitude occur. The Centre also prepares evacuation plans, shelter and identifies executing agencies. Executing agencies may differ depending on the nature of the disaster. It also arranges clearance for aircraft, ships and even visa clearance for overseas relief personnel and agencies, if we need them, depending on the nature of disaster. It also prepares media programmes for public information and Press briefings. It also carries out annual review, evaluation and validation of national and sectoral disaster mitigation plans with a view of improving their effectiveness and efficiency. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, from what I have said, it is very clear that managing disasters requires immense resources and expertise. The Centre, therefore, works closely with partners to fulfil its mandate. It works with the Kenya Police, the Department of Defence, Meteorological Department, Media houses, members of the public, institutions of higher learning, fire services, the United Nations (UN), Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and any other relevant organisation that may be of use or help when disaster strikes. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with the arrangements I have already explained, we may not need September 19, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 4017 a Bill of Parliament to establish an autonomous National Disaster Management Authority. If we create an autonomous body, it will not be able to have the capacity and legal mandate to mobilise personnel and resources from the Government and NGOs to respond to disasters. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Office of the President is the best placed to co-ordinate all the other Ministries, NGOs and international organisations, if need arises. An autonomous body will not be able to set up structures at the grassroots level compared to the Office of the President which has existing structures up to the sub-locations. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the National Disaster Operation Centre, under the current set-up, has disaster committees at the provincial and district levels. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, contrary to popular opinion, the Centre has been very effective in responding to disasters from when they happen. Sometimes people require quick action. They want to see results. But in some situations, we cannot have results very quickly. If people are buried under an avalanche in case of a landslide, we have to do very meticulous work. We must be very careful in order to save lives if there are people who are alive. However, there are people who would expect us to come with bulldozers and dig up the area very fast. How can we do that without killing the people who are alive down there? Sometimes, the public gets frustrated when they see evacuation going on very slowly. That is the nature of evacuations. If a building collapses, like the one that collapsed here the other day, we want to save the lives of the people down there. So, when bringing down the building, we have to do it very slowly and carefully to make sure that the survivors are not killed in the process. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, right now, what we need is not creating an autonomous body, but strengthening the Centre. Let us give it the necessary properly trained personnel who can respond. They should be personnel of various training and expertise that is required in disaster management. Give it the necessary resources to be able to work and organise the co-ordination aspect, so that there is better co-ordination when responding to disasters. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also need to have long-term planning in order to prevent disasters that are preventable. Some disasters are preventable, for example, floods that we talk about all the time. Could we build dams on rivers that flood every year to harvest the water and use it for other purposes, so that it does not go and cause havoc downstream? These things can be done. Building of dykes is not a solution in itself. It is short-term, but when there are floods and the dykes cannot contain it, what do we do? We need to harvest water. There are some places that are looking for water, but cannot find it. We waste our water! We have a lot of it and need it. This long-term planning cannot be done by an Authority. It needs the effort of the entire Government. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other important thing we also need to do in preventing disasters is to make sure that we do not settle in areas prone to landslides. The Government is coming up with plans to make sure that people do not live in areas prone to disasters, for example, hill sides. When it rains the hills collapse and people are killed. Of course, we cannot blame the people who live there. Maybe, they do not have any other land. They do not have any other place where they can earn a livelihood. It is for the Government to come up with plans to re-settle them. Buy them land in safe places and settle them. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, on environmental degradation which is one of the key factors causing some of the disasters we are talking about, we need to give the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) teeth to bite. We should make sure that our environment is managed properly, so that most of the disasters caused by heavy rains and water are managed. Most flooding that takes place is because where the water comes from, the environment has been degraded. Trees have been cleared from hill sides where we have sources of water. The water, therefore, does not sip through. So, environmental management is a very key aspect of the preventive aspect of disasters. 4018 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES September 19, 2007 Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, Government authorities should make sure that houses are built properly and according to design. An authority alone cannot do that. These are responsibilities that run across the Ministries and local authorities. Everybody needs to be involved in it. Even as we support the spirit of this Motion, a national autonomous authority would not help. It is not an appropriate solution. We oppose this Motion. We need to strengthen the Centre. We also need a clear policy which gives us a direction and the planning we need to deal with disasters. I can confirm that we have a draft Policy Paper which requires some fine-tuning and then it will be brought to the House for endorsement. That way, we will be able to strengthen the National Disaster Operation Centre to carry out the mandate that it was set up to fulfil. With those few remarks, I urge hon. Members not to support this Motion."
}