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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Njenga",
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"legal_name": "Francis Kigo Njenga",
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"content": "Thank you, hon. Deputy Speaker. I stand to support this Motion. Creation of Disaster Management Authority was delayed by past Governments. We have had several disasters in this country. You will remember the 1998 bomb blast that we had. Time has come when we should have an authority to manage disasters. It should deter the occurrence of disasters; managing should be preceded by deterrence. It will manage and control disasters. During the 998 bomb blast, most of us who were around town ran to the site. If by bad luck there was another one in the offing, Kenya would have lost so many people. We had not even known what a bomb was. I want to borrow a leaf from countries like the United States of America and others in the West, which are prone to disasters like the tornados. Every child knows what to do during an adverse occurrence. It is high time that this country put in place a programme in our education system to educate the young, and even the aged on how to manage disasters and protect themselves. If we had this authority, it would implement programmes through churches, mosques, women groups, the media and other organizations. It is high time that the media started contributing positively towards this, especially the State owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and its related outlets. They should start educating our people and concentrating more on constructive education on matters that bring misunderstanding to the people of this nation. Recently, the Leader of Majority Party, hon. A.B. Duale brought an answer that was talking about permanent intervention, especially in respect of floods in places like Tana River. He spoke about constructing dams in the upper parts of this country, like the Mount Kenya and the Aberdares regions, where we have a lot of water flowing down. He stated that we would intervene by building dykes and dams. He gave us a document here which states that the Government has set aside Kshs4 billion to do that intervention, so that we can manage things before disasters occur. Now the Government has the Budget and even the Appropriation Bill was passed here. It is high time that they implemented this. We know very well that most probably, we shall have floods next year. If we just talk and we do not implement measures, then disasters will always occur. The Kshs4 billion will just be enough. The Budalangi problem used to be a big one in this country, and we used to hear about it year in, year out, but now, we do not hear much about it. We should have permanent solutions. Many Ministries are involved; examples are the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the Ministry of Devolution and Planning that includes the former Ministry of Special Programmes. All this needs coordination. If you do not have an authority to co-ordinate the various Ministries and institutions that are concerned, we will not go far. I support this Motion. Someone has talked about the bumps and rumble strips in this country. These are all sorts of disasters. We should also deal with such issues. In my constituency, we have a school where we have lost more than 50 people through road"
}