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{
    "id": 496973,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/496973/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 212,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kobado",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2964,
        "legal_name": "John Owuor Onyango Kobado",
        "slug": "john-owuor-onyango-kobado"
    },
    "content": "Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we recently visited Israel as a Departmental Committee on Agriculture, Livestock and Cooperatives and we could see what the water resource can do to revolutionise an economy like Israel’s where certain areas receive only up to one millimetre of water density. Indeed, hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, solution to water problems require proper water resource management. It requires proper reforms in water governance for us to be able to utilise this rare commodity to be able to really feed our people. Millions in this country and elsewhere live with insufficient fresh water. This is often caused by polluted fresh water resources, over- exploitation of ground water and mismanagement of wetlands. What we need to do is to optimise the use of water resources while at the same time we attempt to minimise the environmental impact of water use. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the solution is an integrated approach because we find that water is needed in industrial use, for manufacture, agriculture and domestic use. Therefore the only solution to proper management of water resource is an integrated water resource management approach. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, this should be done at various levels. We require a hierarchical approach where at national level the national Government will be dealing with the institutional framework formulation of policies and plans. At the county level, we would expect the management issues to be dealt with. Those are planning, organization, coordination and development of water resources and then we go further down to community level where we need to involve the stakeholder participation and involvement of community and private sector in the day to day running and management of water resources. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, water rights is an emerging challenge and I would like to give examples of how water resources have been mismanaged in this country. My constituency which is Uriri is spanned by two fresh water rivers. We have River Kuja running to the western side and it is used to irrigate Nyatike which is a neighbouring constituency. Then we have River Oyani to the southern side of the constituency. River Oyani is the main feeder and source of water used in Migori Town which is the headquarters of Migori County. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, if you look at the way it has been done, the one which is used for irrigating what we are calling the Lower Kuja Irrigation Project which, indeed, is over 7,000 hectares and a project which is estimated to cost about Kshs4.2 billion, this water is pumped to the next constituency yet the people of Uriri from where that water is sourced do not benefit at all. They do not participate. They do not oversee the management of that water resource. The same thing has been done with River Oyani which is actually the major supplier of water used in Migori Town. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}