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{
    "id": 57715,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/57715/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 299,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dr. Wekesa",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Forestry and Wildlife",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 209,
        "legal_name": "Noah Mahalang'ang'a Wekesa",
        "slug": "noah-wekesa"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I would like to support this Report with reservations. My own district has one borehole and we are next to West Pokot which is partly semi- arid. Kwanza is partly semi-arid. I think the issue of equitable distribution of national resources is a challenge to all of us in the Government. The story of water is the same story as that of roads. Every Kenyan wants roads in their area. We all want water. I think we should try to find out the cheapest way of providing water. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to give you an example. I live very close to Mt. Elgon. Mt. Elgon has forests as you know. We have several rivers emanating from Mt. Elgon. River Nzoia is one of them. There is also a River Suam which goes to West Pokot.. We have a lot of other smaller rivers flowing from Mt. Elgon. For example, we have Sabwani River. There are natural springs within this mountain. For quite a long time, we have been trying to see if the Ministry will assist us, not to dig boreholes in our region, but to give us piping, so that we can harness this water from Mt. Elgon and distribute it through Kwanza and West Pokot districts. A lot of the problems you hear between West Pokot and Trans Nzoia is over grazing issues and water. Many people from West Pokot District would like to come to Trans Nzoia with their livestock to access water. This sometimes causes a lot of conflict between communities. In my area, it is easier and cheaper to harness water from Mt. Elgon through piping, through Kwanza to West Pokot and Elgeyo Marakwet. But I do not think we want to do this. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have tried to sink boreholes on my farm. It is a very expensive affair. If you want to dig down 300 metres to access water, it is a very expensive affair. We can get water by gravity from Mt. Elgon. Just through gravity we can supply a lot of Kenyans with water. So, the Minister and the technical experts in her Ministry should also look at a cheaper way of supplying water. I came in when a colleague was talking about harvesting water. This is something we have not done. We should be able to harvest rain water. It is easier to harvest rainwater than to dig boreholes. So, I think the Minister should really look at these avenues so that we can supply water."
}