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"id": 508219,
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"content": "In Turkana, for example, there is oil. We are talking about almost 600 million barrels of oil and underground water that is of immense value. Therefore, we see a lot of hope in Kenya in terms of the way these natural resources are used to change communities and counties in matters development both economic and social and make a difference in this country. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, Article 69 of the Constitution also talks about the sustainable exploitation, utilization, management and conservation of the environment which this Bill also considers. There is also need to protect intellectual property and the need to utilize the environment and natural resources for the benefit of Kenya. This Bill is also contextualized in Article 203 of the Constitution. Currently, the revenue given to the counties is not enough for them to attain their social and economic development. Therefore, this Bill comes as an innovative way to ensure that communities in their God- given right are able to utilize their resources. We felt that if we have a unified fiscal framework and a way to mobilize so that the money is taken to the communities, it will make a big change. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, because of time, I will not go into the details of where the resources are found because we have discussed this before. This Bill touches on each and every county. For example, in the western region, we have gold. In the coastal region, we have the rare earth and building stones at Mrima Hills. We also have iron ore in the eastern region. Therefore, in all counties, we have natural resources that can benefit our people. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we have several minerals like energy, metallic minerals and so on. All these are used in various construction industries, aerospace construction and things like that. We are also looking at wind and water resources in the production of electricity. What we discovered is that there is no fiscal framework that is unifying on the issue of natural resources. Our legislation brings together with various legislations that have been put into place that deal with various sectors. We have sectoral differences across natural resources. We also have statutes and acts in different sectors that might not have a coherence in terms of how that management should be done. That is what we are trying to solve. For example, we have the Lands Act, the Forests Act of 2005, the Wildlife Act of 1976 which is under review. Therefore, we need to find a way of putting these Acts together. We decided that one way of achieving that is to allow the sectors to operate as they are. In sectors where a fee is charged, it should continue to be charged as per the specific law. What we are advocating for is that once the money is there, it should be put into a fund where redistribution should take place. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, we visited 9 counties in total; Machakos, Kajiado, Narok, Kiambu, Nakuru, Taita Taveta, Kwale, Turkana and Elgeyo-Marakwet. Our visits were to make sure that this is an inclusive process. We talked to investigators, investors, community members and leaders. We asked them questions about the proposal of the percentage that they thought was appropriate. We wanted to feel that this Bill will address issues that are important to them. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if I turn to the Bill specifically, it has a total of seven sections. The seventh section is the miscellaneous provisions. I will go through them very quickly, then highlight the specific aspects of the Bill that we need to consider even The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}