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{
    "id": 531322,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/531322/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 294,
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    "content": "this fund is coming from and what percentage it is. It just talks of “such moneys as accrues”. We are not committing ourselves to what the source of that money is and how much it is. If we are told that it is at least a percentage of the national budget, then we can understand that the Government is serious and that there is a fund set aside and this authority will be different from the others, because we already have others in the region like the Ewaso Nyiro Development Authority. I am referring to it because it is the one that falls in the area where I come from. They are not doing anything. Right now, they have ground to a halt. So, when we come up with another like this one, and we are not committing any funds to it, then it will be business as usual. We will just have another outfit which will be purporting to be addressing real problems. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as much as I accept that, there is a need for having a body to address drought, that body should come up with programmes that are not just emergencies during drought, but programmes which will cushion the residents who come from the affected areas, against drought. That is worldwide, but we have to come up with programmes which will cushion the citizens of this country against the effects of drought. That should not wait until the drought comes before coming up with emergencies. I remember last year I attended a function where the authority that we are trying to phase out had a programme totalling to Kshs39 million in my county trying to address emergency drought issues, including water tankering, providing fuel to drill boreholes and so on. All these are emergency measures, but if we come up with an authority like this, we should give it enough funding and consolidate other authorities doing the same work. We have a parastatal like Ewaso Nyiro Water Development Authority which is already dying and now you come up with another authority. If it is not well planned then we shall just be incurring recurrent expenditure on authorities which are of no use to the public. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I would rather we have a Bill which will create one authority to cover all these issues. If we do this, then we shall sort out the problems facing our people. Otherwise, if we go this way, we will not be doing anything. If you look at the objective of the fund, in part three, it talks of timely response to drought, an emergency fund to minimize the effects and technical expertise to improve on drought management. If we have to come up with an authority let us do it, but involve the people who know and want to address the problem and not people who want to have an authority that will do what the others have been doing over time. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I support the idea, but I would like this Bill to be amended so that we have very clear budgetary allocation in terms of a percentage of the national budget. The objective of the fund should not just to fire-fight during drought, but it should come up with programmes which will prepare our people to withstand drought. As it is now, when it gets dry, people just watch their animals as they grow thinner until they drop dead. When the rains come, the people have to look for money to start all over again. That is where cattle rustling comes in because somebody has to go and get from the one who has a few left so that he can start again; that is restocking basically. This way, we shall not be moving forward. 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."
}