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{
    "id": 531302,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/531302/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 274,
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    "speaker_name": "",
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    "content": "One of the most important things on the agenda of that summit is how to deal with drought which is affecting our people today as we speak in up to eight counties. The Government has already announced what interventions it is going to take on the eight counties where the lives of people are at stake, yet someone can stand up in this House and say we do not need this. The same people are getting billions of shillings in write off for Sugar Development Levy every year. We need to think about the rest of the country. It is important that, as leaders, we must take responsibility to change our country. We cannot develop this country when one half of this country is living on famine relief. You cannot develop this country when one half of this country is in a desert where there is no livelihood. This Government has made the commitment to change and diversify so that they can develop irrigation, for example, in those parts of the country. How do you deal with irrigation when you do not have even measures in place to deal with drought? In Clause 5 of this Bill, it says that they will come up with mitigation measures in order to enhance food security. They need to design projects and programs to create resistance and resilience to drought and climate change. I wish to talk about climate change and I want Members from the so called “highland” areas to listen. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) headquarters is in Nairobi and if you have ever attended any of their meetings in recent months, those people dealing with climate at the UNEP Headquarters here in Nairobi have announced so many times that climate change is going to affect East Africa so much that in the next 10 to 15 years, this region - Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania - will not be able to feed themselves. What is happening is a situation where parts of this country that have always had rain and have always been wet are becoming drier. Anyone here who comes from Murang’a or parts of Nyeri will tell you that climate change alone is going to affect people. So, it would be important for us to have an authority that focuses on how to deal with the effects of climate change; on who can plan and interact with those kinds of institutions and plan for this country. We cannot talk of development because this country now suffers more than any other country in East Africa regarding food security. We are a basket case and yet we do not plan on how to deal with this situation. Do we want to create more people lining up for food when we can plan through institutions like this one on how to provide food? So, it is important that this authority is anchored in law so that it can get adequate funding. 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."
}