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{
    "id": 504776,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/504776/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 144,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Wakhungu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1889,
        "legal_name": "Chrisantus Wamalwa Wakhungu",
        "slug": "chrisantus-wamalwa-wakhungu"
    },
    "content": "provinces and districts. That is why it is very critical. We must align it to the current Constitution. However, on the issue of the county, I wish that these committees could go further to have sub-county levels. In this case, we are referring to the constituencies. For example, in Busia County, we have different constituencies like Budalangi which is a sub-county. It has its own uniqueness. We want to propose that when it comes to the Committee of the whole House, so that we have the national and county committees and also sub-county committees. This should be a constituency, so that it can mitigate those different risks that are in a specific constituency. For instance, in Busia County, issues in Budalangi Constituency are totally different from the issues in Nambale and Matayos, yet they are within the same county. In line with the Jubilee policy of integrating parastatals, recently in Public Investments Committee (PIC), the name “National Environment Trust Fund” appeared before us, which we have never heard about. It does not have a mission. We did not see the vision and we challenged the CEO to tell us where he has been. We have never heard of him. We have some parastatals which are a liability to the Exchequer. It will be important that such parastatals in line with the Jubilee policy are integrated to reduce the wage bill. As the Chair has put it, NEMA is supposed to do co-ordination. It is not supposed to do implementation. Indeed, I agree with her. This issue of NEMA doing everything is going to be a big problem. You cannot be the one coordinating and at the same time implementing. We are seeing a lot of cases of corruption in NEMA. For example, when it comes to the impact assessment, they demand for some money. The levels of corruption are high because NEMA is involved in everything. We are saying that it must have these issues of specifics, so that we can know who is coordinating who and who is doing what for purposes of control. Environment is very critical. As the Chair has said, in memory of the late Prof. Wangari Maathai, who had gone to court, in some regions, the ground cannot support the height of the buildings, yet the people are constructing high buildings. High buildings are collapsing because the impact assessment was not done. When it comes to enforcement, the penalties that are suggested here are so lenient. People have lost lives. We know what happened at River Road. People are coming up with structures because of the demands of the tenants. Within a short period, the building is up and people are already occupying it. So, the penalties should be high to deter these people who want to make money quickly. We should not lose lives because of the careless way of handling the environment. I support."
}