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{
    "id": 503396,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/503396/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 169,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Tonui",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1242,
        "legal_name": "Ronald Kiprotich Tonui",
        "slug": "ronald-kiprotich-tonui"
    },
    "content": "This Bill also addresses issues of air quality standards, which are being set. There is, for example, the standards of emissions from tanneries which pollute the environment. I am happy that those issues are being addressed by this Bill. The issue of water, which is so critical is also being addressed. In some parts of my constituency, we rely on dams and the kind of dams which we have are not good. They are not protected. We rely on run-off water for drinking. At this time and age, both the national Government and county governments need to do something to ensure that we have clean drinking water. I believe this is being addressed in this Bill. Whatever is being addressed in the Bill should be in line with the realities on the ground. Our people are suffering when it comes to the quality of water; therefore, this issue needs to be addressed. I am also happy that this Bill tackles the issue of treatment of effluents. We need to dispose of waste in the right manner. This Bill is capturing it well. Where we need to polish, we must polish, so that we do not have people disposing of waste anyhow. I am also happy that issues of pesticides and toxic substances are being addressed in this Bill. Now that we have our international partners, the people whom we are exporting our agricultural products to, complaining about the level of toxic substances in our agricultural products, I am glad that this is also captured in this Bill. It is being addressed, so that we sell our agricultural products, and they are not rejected either in the African Union (AU) or the United States (US). Those are very good issues which have been captured. There is the issue of environmental impact assessment reports, which is very important. However, I wish it were very specific. In certain parts of this Bill, there are clauses which may be a little bit hard to follow; for example, where it talks of changes in land use. If I have my small piece of land and I want to change its use from grazing to planting tea, I will require these reports. This will make those small-scale activities too expensive. We need to be specific on the acreage and what kind of agricultural activity we are changing from. This is because if you are simply changing from grazing to planting tea, you may not need to undertake an environmental impact assessment report; doing so will make use of the land expensive. This is even the case in settlements. I believe it can discourage many people from building houses. Then, there is the Public Complaints Committee. We need to capture this because dispute resolution does not need to be so lengthy. There are certain things which deal with the environment, and which can irritate you. Going to the court and processing all 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."
}