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{
    "id": 552787,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/552787/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 111,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mulu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1955,
        "legal_name": "Benson Makali Mulu",
        "slug": "benson-makali-mulu"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, hon. Deputy Speaker. Participation of the Attorney-General in this board is very important. I support and appreciate the fact that the Mediation Committee actually accepted to retain the Attorney-General in the board. On the issue of the civil society, I would have opposed Clause 20, given the opportunity. It is very unfortunate that while we are all pushing for public participation, we want to leave the civil society out of an important board like this one. Because of the timelines and the constitutional requirements of this Bill, our hands are tied in relation to Clause 20. As we move forward, I will move an amendment to get the civil society participate in this board. The civil society in this country is very active on matters to do with the environment. At the same time, most of the civil society organisations have a lot of expertise and experience in matters of the environment. I do not think we are doing good service to this country by leaving them out of the Public Complaints Committee. As we move forward, it will be important that we amend this Clause to include the civil society on the board. On the clause on the County Environmental Action Plans, what was under discussion was the issue of timeframes. When I read this proposed amendment, I asked myself whether we have a mechanism in place for consultation with the relevant committee of the National Assembly to just seek clarification before the Senate makes the amendment. To me, this came about as a result of failure to seek clarification from people who had consulted the stakeholders. If there was proper consultation before the Senate made the amendments, some of these things would not have come up, especially the issues to do with timeframes like whether it should take two years to prepare a plan, or it should take three years to review it. My last point relates to the whole issue of the way we view our environmental matters. It has been said that NEMA, as an organisation, seems to be performing below expectation. However, we must also realise that at the same time, this law is very important to NEMA in terms of their co-ordination and management of environmental 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."
}