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"content": "exploited and unexploited, to landlords who do not care about the local community. People come, get what they want and they leave the place hollow without putting in mind the benefit of the community. When we look at this NRBSA or the board that is part of this Bill, it is coming up with criteria for benefit sharing. What will be put in the sovereign wealth fund that is 20 per cent and the remaining per cent that will be shared between the county governments and the national Government? It outlines what the community will get in return. If we do not involve the community, none of them will care about what happens to the natural resource that we have in this country. No one will take care of it, because they are not part of it. We have different types of resources in our country like petroleum, natural gases, forest resources, minerals, wildlife resources and fisheries resources; but what are we, as a country, doing to make sure that we tap into what we have as Kenyans? For example, in Kakamega County, we have the “crying stone” which nobody cares about. However, when you read the geography and history books, it is a stone that has been there for a long time and it is a tourist attraction. At the moment, nobody goes to Kakamega to look at it. In Kwale County, where Sen. (Dr.) Zani comes from, we have the Mrima Hills that has niobium minerals, but when you read the newspapers and listen to electronic news, this is the most affected county by poverty. They do not have classrooms for students. But with these types of resources, if we involve the community and they become part of it, at one point they will benefit. I was looking at what some companies have done to ensure the surrounding communities have benefited. For example, we have companies like Nzoia Sugar Company; because if these resources are there and we have a good measure or a mechanism of working as the local community, the county government and the national Government, the community will benefit in a bigger way. Through this, the community is going to get a ration of 60-40 per cent, it means that the locals will be employed; the infrastructure will be improved and the security of those regions will be beefed up because the exploiters or the investors will play a role in it. At the same time, we will have bursaries that are brought in by such exploiters that will benefit the community. We have the youth and women initiatives and they can as well tap from this. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, going through part three of the Bill about the management of the authority, Clause 9 states that:- “A person shall be qualified for appointment as the Chairperson or a member of the board under Section 7(1) and that you must be a holder of a university degree.” I have no problem with it, but part (b) of it says that:- “The person must have knowledge and at least 10 years experience in any of the following fields.” Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if we do this, that a person must have an experience of 10 years, we are locking out the young people of this country. These are the people I represent. I will appeal to the Committee during amendments to reduce these years of experience. As long as one has a university degree from a recognized university, he or she must be allowed to participate in this. We want to have a generation of young people leading in this authority boards. We are talking of a Natural Resources Bill that was there from the year 1940 and now we are in the year 2015. We need to include the young 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."
}