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{
    "id": 494959,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/494959/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 178,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ganya",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 18,
        "legal_name": "Francis Chachu Ganya",
        "slug": "francis-ganya"
    },
    "content": "devolved function. Water provision and water development especially for large scale boreholes and large scale water facilities are largely left to the county governments to develop within their counties. Some services as well as drainage services are also left to the county governments not to mention the need to have water regulations done within counties, especially in terms of water provision. The county governments need a lot of technical support as well as financial support to be able to deliver on their functions. The Bill ensures that the framework is provided within the law so that the national Government is able to build the capacities of the county governments. Therefore, we went as far as enhancing the capacity of Kenya Water Institute (KEWI) to be able to train the staff of both the national Government and the county governments in the water sector. We also saw it fit to invest large resources in training and research in the water sector whereby we hope KEWI will take a lead in this. It is evident that most counties would like to manage the water resources within their counties but we are one nation and we share the same ecosystem. It is really critical that where a water resource serves many counties, it is imperative for the national Government to come in and ensure that, that resource is managed well. This is because all over the world conflicts are largely over water resources and other resources and the national Government, having that constitutional function and mandate of ensuring that there is security in this country especially resource security, water security needs to be taken care of. This is why we clearly showed that there are some elements of this function that lie squarely with the county government but there are some that are also shared with the national Government. There are so many institutions that are managing the water sector in this country, whether they are regional authorities, water bodies or State corporations. We have tried our best in this Bill to align their functions with the constitutional provisions so that if they are to work within certain regions, they are able to serve those counties in which that basin is located, and if it is a national authority then it is able to implement the national functions as provided for within the Constitution. Hon. Deputy Speaker, we have looked at a number of issues in the Bill and there are some which were omitted. We have proposed extensive amendments to ensure that we capture most of those issues so that this Bill will well capture the new thinking and the new practices in the water sector. We have borrowed extensively from other jurisdictions and countries with similar laws so that this Bill will reflect both the letter and the spirit of our not so new Constitution. With those few remarks I support the Bill."
}