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"id": 32680,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Nanok",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Forestry and Wildlife",
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"id": 57,
"legal_name": "Josephat Koli Nanok",
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"content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this chance to contribute to this matter; which is a matter of life and death for communities living around Lake Turkana. First and foremost, I would like to congratulate Dr. Wilbur Otichillo for bringing this Motion, even though he lives very far from Lake Turkana. However, I believe that he brought it, basically, because he knows the importance of Lake Turkana to the world and to this country. You will realize that Lake Turkana is about the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people. In fact, more than 500,000 people are supported by that lake. So, to us, it is a matter of life and death. As for my colleagues who are seated with me here today, I would like to tell them that, that is the biggest lake in this country. We have always been talking about Lake Victoria and Lake Naivasha. However, Lake Turkana is the biggest; 400 kilometers long and 27 kilometers wide. It is the only lake that this country can be proud of. It is the only desert world lake that exists. That lake, apart from supporting 500,000 people directly, has a lot of ecological importance. It supports birds, crocodiles and the fishing population. The fishing potential in Lake Turkana can generate for this country Kshs17 billion annually, if it is fully exploited, leave alone tourism. Similarly, archaeological research has shown that the first man that ever lived on this earth came from around Lake Turkana. So, the people who live around Lake Turkana are the cradle of mankind. I would like to urge my colleagues in the Government and in this House to protect Lake Turkana as Egypt protects it pyramids. There is no important thing in this country like Lake Turkana, just as the way the pyramids are to Egypt. The production of electricity along River Omo has been on four different stages. There are smaller dams that were constructed - Gibe I and Gibe II. But our biggest concern is the large bigger dam, Gibe III, the proposed Gibe IV and Gibe V. I raised this as our concern basically because of five factors. One, Gibe 3 is planning to recreate another dam that will be half the size of Lake Turkana. It will be 200 kilometers long. Independent experts have indicated that it will take three to five years to fill up that dam. That is the river that contributes over 90 percent of the water in Lake Turkana. What will happen to the lake? In fact, even the figures that Dr. Otichillo has presented here are just but a bare minimum. We will see the lake recede much more. Secondly, Gibe 3 is supposed to produce 1,800 mega watts. So far, 45 percent of the work has been done. I can tell you that, through our own effort and those of the local leaders and pressure groups, we have managed to stop the funding from the African Development Bank, World Bank and from the European Union. Our only problem - and I want to state this categorically - is the Chinese Government. China is the same mega super power that was creating problems in Sudan. Now, it wants to create more problems here. Let the Government use the leverage advantage that it has with the Chinese. I know they are doing a very good job in building our infrastructure. However, let us not kill the sweeteners by building good roads on one hand and, on the other hand, you are killing the cradle of mankind in this country. So, let the Government do anything it can do to stop the Chinese from funding that particular project. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, communities around Lake Turkana have never, up to now, been consulted. I would like to draw your attention to the River Nile Basin. The River Nile Basin includes both the River Nile, the Blue and White Nile, Lake Victoria and the lakes and rivers that pour water into River Nile from the East and Central African countries. Why does our neighbour, the Ethiopian Government, consider the Omo Basin as River Omo alone and not Lake Turkana? Our Constitution states very clearly that we must be consulted. Communities have to be consulted if that has to be put forward. We are asking the Government to do the needful. Otherwise, Kenyan communities are ready to take the Government to court because of the insensitivity to their plight. The other concern - and I want to bring out this more clearly - is the sugar irrigation scheme that will be developed where Gibe 3 will be constructed. The Ethiopian Government wants to establish it and it has already mapped out 230,000 hectares to be put under irrigation. What will happen after the dam has been constructed? The little water that will flow into the lake will even reduce further after it goes into sugar cane irrigation. I think the Government has to take this matter seriously. This is a matter of international diplomacy. If the issues around Lake Victoria, River Nile and other lakes are becoming matters of international importance, why can Lake Turkana not be the same? I am glad to note that UNESCO has already declared and asked the Ethiopian Government to stop the construction of the dam. That is because it will affect a lake that has an international importance. So, we are just calling our Government to be sensitive to its people and listen. I hope that, through this Motion, the Minister for Water and Irrigation, who is representing the Government today, when she responds, she will give us something positive that we will take back to the communities around Lake Turkana. This country does not have a problem of generating energy. Through the generation of Green Energy, this country has a lot. Around Turkana, the area can generate more than 10,000 mega watts of geothermal power, that area can generate more than 5,000 mega watts of wind power and that area can also generate more than 50,000 mega watts of solar power. This country - and I know that the President and the Prime Minister have said that Kenya will go green--- Why are we not investing our resources in the right way? Recently, when the Budget Statement was read by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, he did not allocate - not even a shilling - to the geothermal projects around the lake. I am glad - and I want to congratulate my colleagues in this House - for taking Kshs3 billion from other Votes and allocating it to Sirare Block for the generation of geothermal power. This is so that Kenya can realize that it is not only through buying power from outside countries that we can develop. We have our own potential here that we can be able to generate power."
}