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{
    "id": 381976,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/381976/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 158,
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    "content": "take you to one or two schools –which were not built by KenGen, but by local people – to take electricity? It is not there! So, we have not benefitted from this dam. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there should be Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by this company to the local community. There is no provision of water. As for electricity, we normally use a terminology. My people say: “We are the people looking after this cow and it produces milk, which is electric power. We have been very faithful pastoralists and herdsmen for 22 years without even drinking even a single drop of milk from this cow.” What is the implication of this? It means that the Government has really not bothered to take care of the local community. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, two years ago when I was still the Permanent Secretary (PS) for Public Works, there was a dam that was built in Elgeyo Marakwet called Chebara Dam to collect water for the people of Eldoret and Uasin Gishu counties. I witnessed a compensation of Kshs750 million given to the people affected by this very tiny little dam called Chebara Dam. I am talking about a huge, mighty lake called Turkwel Dam. If we were able to compensate these people, then why were our people not compensated for their land by getting them appropriate alternative land? In Chebara, they built brand new schools, Chebara Boys and Chebara Girls Secondary Schools. These schools never existed. They were started from scratch. They are even building a Church. Next to it, they have built a polytechnic and two primary schools which have a nursery wing. I wonder where the children are going to come from because these facilities are all concentrated in one place. But this has been done faithfully by our Government, whereas nothing has been done for the people around Turkwel Dam. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, you drank water yesterday; you showered, ladies and gentlemen in Nairobi courtesy of the water from Ndakaini Dam. I am aware that the people who were displaced by the water that accumulated in Ndakaini were compensated, but not the people of Turkwel Dam. The latest dam that was done for power generation is called Sondu Miriu Dam – Sen. (Prof.) Anyang’-Nyong’o – I visited Sondu Miriu. People who were displaced there were compensated. Sondu Miriu Dam is not like what I am describing; Turkwel Dam is actually a percentage of Lake Victoria. Our people were not compensated when they were forced to pave way for its construction. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the dams that have been constructed on River Tana – and Sen. Muthama was around here – the people there were also compensated. They now want more compensation. This issue has put a lot of questions in the minds of Kenyans who are living around Turkwel Dam. Why were we subjected to this? Their grazing grounds were also fully covered by this water. So, with the few cows they had, they migrated very far to the border of West Pokot and Turkana counties. This has now brought up the appetite for stealing cows and cattle rustling because we are both competing for pasture. So, it becomes like a game where the most active cattle rustling activity taking place is around Turkwel area, some 10 kilometres away from Turkwel at the border of Pokot and Turkana. This is because the people were moved by this water. They do not have anywhere else to grace the animals. In 22 years time, we would have The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}