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{
    "id": 504795,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/504795/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 163,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mwaura",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13129,
        "legal_name": "Isaac Maigua Mwaura",
        "slug": "isaac-mwaura"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Speaker. I rise to support this Bill. I want to congratulate the Departmental Committee on Environment and Natural Resources through the able Chairperson because in this 11th Parliament, they have brought very pertinent Bills and quite good ones in terms of streamlining environmental issues in this country; that needs to be recognised. This Bill is very timely in a sense that it is trying to consolidate the gains that are envisaged in the Constitution. It is trying to align already existing legislation with the Constitution. Most importantly, it is trying to do away with various provisions that created many committees that were actually taking away money from the public to do the same roles. I think this is very important. It goes to ensure that, indeed, we can assign roles to the already existing departments instead of creating new agencies and committees that will not enhance anything other than creating bureaucracy. This Bill is critical because it also recognises the change of the governance structure. It gives powers to governors to appoint members of the county environment committees. This is very critical in terms of sharing resources because one can very ably say that the onus of caring for the environment is both a national and county government matter. I think it will help the county executive in charge of the environment so that they have people they can work with. They can have people with expertise and even work with people who curb poaching, NGOs that deal with environmental issues and other stakeholders. One of the things that really stands out for me in this Bill is the fact that there is need to have strategic impact assessment for various policy programmes that the Government may want to undertake. This is very critical because sometimes when we are passing policies, when we are passing laws or implementing programmes, this is not put in place. I think just doing an environmental impact assessment may not be enough. I think it is important to look at the strategic issues that may arise, that may not just affect the immediate concerns of the environment but also long term issues. Hon. Speaker, this Bill seeks to empower the public to access information with regard to the environment. This is very progressive because you can see the right to freedom of information is being encouraged by this Bill. I think it will also be critical to see, for example, how approvals are made so that it can also help in curbing corruption in terms of how these orders or approvals are given. It also affects things to do with real estate development, land use and management which are very critical for onward development of our country. It is also important to say that now that the United Nations has been having the Education for Sustainable Development Millennium, such laws help to create coherent structure so that people can understand the nexus between environment and sustainability of development. That is one thing that sometimes people are not able to understand. Indeed, for us to ensure that we have sustainable development, we have the responsibility of taking care of what we have now and use it adequately. I hope and believe that with this kind of legislation and proper management, we are going to see a situation where we 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."
}