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{
    "id": 595604,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/595604/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 220,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wamatangi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 646,
        "legal_name": "Paul Kimani Wamatangi",
        "slug": "paul-kimani-wamatangi"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I rise to second. From the onset, I want to congratulate Sen. Haji; first, on the concept itself and the acknowledgement that our counties require to have the authority and autonomy to manage and deal with disasters which occur locally. For a long time, when disasters have occurred in the counties, the response and management has been left, most of the time, to the national Government. For instance, we have had floods in Budalangi, landslides in Kiambu, Elgeyo-Marakwet and Nandi counties, droughts wiping out herds of animals and leaving populations impoverished, outbreaks of diseases like Cholera, terrorist attacks like we saw in Garissa, Nairobi and Mombasa counties. The management and the onus of dealing with such matters of urgency are left to systems and operations which are based in Nairobi, in spite of the fact that these disasters occur in the counties. When Garissa University was attacked by terrorists, the entire machinery of Garissa County Government, including the Governor, were turned into spectators. Deaths of young innocent students occurred because help was not forthcoming, until forces arrived from Nairobi. The purpose of this Bill is to address those kinds of ills, maladies and shortcomings. In future, we can ensure that our county governments as spread across the country have got, not only the authority, but have been allowed and facilitated to set aside a kitty with a legislative framework that can allow them to tackle those disasters. As the saying goes, “if one fails to plan, then he or she plans to fail”. Our county governors should be aware that, as the Senate and as we are empowered by Article 96, this House has gone out of its way in all aspects to empower the populations that elected us. It is the onus of our governors and the administrations at the county level to ensure that these responsibilities that we are taking to them are exercised properly and responsibly. On the issue of use of funds, this Bill seeks to set up an authority which will be empowered to come up with policies and a formula as to how funds will be availed to the 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."
}