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{
    "id": 382861,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/382861/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 30,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, thank you for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this very important Motion. I intended to propose an amendment to this Motion, but seeing the delegation numbers in the House, I would encourage that those who will speak after me can still bring the amendment so that this Motion covers the whole country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, Section 22 of Schedule 4 of the Constitution assigns environment to the national Government which includes water protection, securing sufficient residual water, hydraulic engineering, safety of dams, energy, fishing, hunting, gathering, protection of animals and wildlife and so on. I want to congratulate the Mover of the Motion who is my Chief Whip for the many good things he said about the Motion and the state of the environment in this country. If you look around the country, there is no single part of Kenya where we are not facing serious environmental challenges. The water sources are challenged. We had the issue of Mau, Mt. Elgon, Cherengany Hills, the Aberdares and Mt. Kenya, which captured the public. These are the five water towers of the country. Each one of them can now not generate half of the water they generated more than 20 years ago. Very water secure counties in this country like Bungoma, Trans Nzoia and Uasin Gishu are now having seasonal rivers. These are rivers that were permanently flowing in the past. Athi River was a permanent river flowing with very clean water. In fact, Athi River and its sources are what contributed to the name “Nairobi” where the Maasais used to call the place of clean cold water, but we cannot say that about Nairobi now. When you go to Kisumu, you will be appalled to see raw sewage being released into the lake and thereafter they go and fish tilapia and we enjoy it on our tables. If you go to Mombasa, the phenomenon of pollution going on is frightening. I am not even sure that the effluent from the sewerage treatment plant that is subsequently released into the river is treated to the level of human and animal use given the levels of corruption and mismanagement that we have recorded in this country. This runs through in all counties. People are now settling on river beds. They sink pit latrines. The sippage enters drinking water and downstream everybody is drawing the same water for drinking. In the last two or three years, the Late John Michuki showed us that it can be done. He took it upon himself to clean Nairobi River. I used to see him in gumboots every morning. Within two months, Nairobi River started getting clean. People started swimming and fishing in it. Today if we maintain and sustain what Michuki started, we can actually draw water from Nairobi River for the use by residents of Nairobi. There is the story of River Thames in London. Because of the industrial revolution in Europe and the subsequent mismanagement of natural resources in the 1960s and early 1970s, River Thames flowed with water that looked like grease. They embarked on cleaning it up. Today when you go to London, you will see people fishing 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."
}