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{
    "id": 499292,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/499292/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 159,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) F. I. Ali",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13152,
        "legal_name": "Fatuma Ibrahim Ali",
        "slug": "fatuma-ibrahim-ali"
    },
    "content": "The end product is that the public, who are supposed to access water with no problem and through minimum structures that are affordable, will be affected. These structures also will need heavy staff recruitment, appointment of senior officers and appointment of board members, which means it will have staff at different levels. This is too much for this country, which is experiencing a high wage bill. The Committee needs to relook at how to harmonize these structures, or institutions, which may be affected. In terms of providing efficient and effective service, and in terms of reforming the water sector--- One other challenge I find in this Bill is that provision of affordable, accessible and safe water may be compromised by the structures and requirements provided. Kenya is a signatory to many international standards. One of the requirements is to improve rural water access. My fear as regards this Bill is the cost of regulations, requirements and structures. There is a likelihood of denying rural communities access to water. The other challenge in this Bill is that water service is devolved. The national Government has policy responsibility while the county government has service delivery responsibility. The Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry concerned with water related functions at the national level has a lot of responsibility and minimum consultation requirements with the county government, which has substantive devolved functions on water service provision. My fear is that if conflict is not resolved in the law, then it will bring a lot of challenges in oversight of provision of water and other services related to water to the public who need this service. The challenge in this country is access to water in terms of physical and information on accessibility. Sometimes the public is not given adequate and appropriate information regarding water, its safety and availability. As for structures proposed in this Bill, they might be too expensive for the common mwananchi to access water. This Bill is aimed at reforming water service delivery, improve accessibility and availability. The way the Bill is designed, it might compromise availability, quality, safety and accessibility of such a crucial and life-saving natural resource. I have personal fear because I come from an area where the public experience chronic water shortage. Sometimes even local resources in the county government are diverted. The Bill is very weak in terms of strengthening water service protection and harvesting in areas where there is perennial water scarcity. We need to look at the users of water; we know it is women. The appointment of members to boards and committees- -- We need to include the requirement for gender in these structures, so that there are 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."
}