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{
    "id": 552736,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/552736/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 60,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Abdalla",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 382,
        "legal_name": "Amina Ali Abdalla",
        "slug": "amina-abdalla"
    },
    "content": "The second clause that was in contention was Clause 20, in which the Council of Governors had recommended to reduce the two persons that were to be nominated by the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Water and Natural Resources in the Public Complaints Committee. This is a body to which members of the public can complain either against the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), any public body or anyone who is infringing on their environmental right. They recommended that one of those slots should be given to the Council of Governors. Our contention was that we did not want the Council of Governors in a nationally constituted committee that intends to perform national duties. However, having looked at the membership of that committee, we agreed that it should include members from the private sector and Non-Governmental organisations (NGOs). Our argument was not as strong. If we wanted the governors to have representation, that would have been a better idea. We then proposed to include a representative of the Council of Governors to replace the civil society representation and not the Cabinet Secretary’s nominees. This is a significant change in that the Bill did not provide a mechanism for choosing the civil society representative. It is a give and take. In that Bill, there is a clause that talks about the County Environmental Committees, whose secretary is the NEMA officer in the county. We thought that this would be a good give and take to the Council of Governors, because as the national Government, we are represented in committees in the different counties. The next clause in contention was the timelines required for the preparation of national environmental action plans and their reports. The Senate amendment had drastically reduced the time it takes to produce and to report on the plan. Their amendments were to reduce our recommendation of preparation of a plan from three years to one year and the time it takes to do a report from five years to two years, in the case of the county government and from six years to three years in the case of the national Government. 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."
}