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{
    "id": 382022,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/382022/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 204,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Elachi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13115,
        "legal_name": "Beatrice Elachi",
        "slug": "beatrice-elachi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you Madam Temporary Speaker, I also stand here to support the Motion as amended bearing in mind the reason that the Government has always used to bring up multipurpose projects. I will give an example of Turkwel Dam. When the Government conceived the Turkwel Dam, it was a multipurpose project that was supposed to deal with agriculture, fisheries and hydro electricity. It seems that most of the time, the projects are abandoned and in the end the Government concentrates more on the project that generates more revenue. Therefore, even when the Government is identifying an area to start a project, one of the things that we have always failed to do is to create awareness for the community to understand that there is a project that is coming up. It is very sad because the Pokot community are pastoralists and yet the project was supposed to generate agriculture, but we were not able to train and impact skills. Worse still, they were unable to understand the fisheries part of it. When you look at these projects, they are projects that can empower the community if the Government puts in place measures in terms of ensuring communities understand why they need a project. Madam Temporary Speaker, as we speak, we have laws. One of the laws in this country states that you cannot just go into a community project without building a school or hospital. It should be any social project that will benefit that community. Therefore, I think because of the impunity we have in terms of disrespecting law in this country, that is why we never abide by certain laws. I think now that we have devolution, it is up to the Senate that any project that comes to the county government, the Governor must have a Memorandum of understanding which indicates what the investor is bringing and what the community is going to benefit. Now that we have started oil drilling in Ngamia I and II, very soon, let us not find Turkanas becoming displaced yet we imagine that for the first time we want to see a different Turkana County. Therefore, we are saying this knowing that we are celebrating 50 years of Jubilee and God has blessed us with a lot of natural resources. I just hope and pray that in this Senate we will be able to protect the interests of the counties. I think time has come for the real protection. The communities where we have natural resources will benefit in terms of ensuring that young people go to school and get employment. As much as the investor would want to bring in expatriates from wherever, at least, 70 per cent of the informal jobs must be given to the youth within that community so that they feel part and parcel of the project. It is important for the Government to come up with measures to start owning up these projects. Let the community feel part and parcel of the process that is going on. If we start projects the way we did in Turkana – you could see how the communities were even engaging each other and chasing away the investor. I would 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."
}