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{
    "id": 595643,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/595643/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 259,
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    "content": "that may occur and what to do immediately after any disaster. That is what this Bill talks about; prompt response to any disaster. There must be prompt response. Sometimes, fires occur in this city and the fire engines arrive when wananchi have already put off the fire or when the fire has already consumed property. In other jurisdictions, a fire engine is accompanied by an ambulance of necessity but not of choice. A fire engine is always accompanied by a police car and an ambulance full of paramedics. However, we do not have such. I hope that Sen. Haji will consider these specific requirements. There is no point for a fire engine to stop vehicles from running to put off a fire only to start looking for who will look after the victims, where the ambulance is and so on when they find people dying. These are very important aspects of disaster management. Volunteer force is very important. We know that security forces and even the city employees cannot, by all means, meet the requirements of a disaster. Therefore, there is need for every county government to have a volunteer force. Let us learn from the example of the KRCS. I met Mr. Abbas Gullet, the Secretary-General of KRCS, and asked him how they manage because sometimes you hear of a disaster somewhere in West Pokot along the road and the RCSK officials are there in uniform. That happens anywhere in this Republic. We commend the Secretary-General of the KRCS for that. If the KRCS can do that, why not us or the Government? I know that my time is running out but I want to talk about the values. I think Sen. (Prof.) Anyang'-Nyong'o talked about them. Values, enshrined in Article 10 of the Constitution must guide our performance. These are issues of integrity and that is why we talk about issues where people take advantage of disasters to enrich themselves. We saw people carrying bags and looting when the Westgate Mall attack occurred. That is against Article 10 of the Constitution. People take advantage of disaster to loot or budget more so that they can have something to eat. That must be followed. I will talk about my final point because I can see a warning that my time is almost up. That is the establishment of the CDMA. It will be under the authority of the governor. The County Authority shall consist of the governor of the county who shall be the chairperson. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, in most cases, governors would tend to think that these are minor things and probably relegate them to others; maybe the director of planning or the deputy. Although, I have seen there is a provision for when he is not there, someone else sits in his place – if we are not careful, and Sen. Haji knows what happens to such bodies where people do not think much of them, they say; “okay, bwana DO1 wewe ndioutakuwa na hii .” We want the governor to be held personally responsible in chairing these disaster authorities and ensuring that he only leaves them under circumstances that must be explained. I have been using Nairobi County as an example and I think they apply to all counties in the Republic so that governors do not think they are too big to chair disaster authorities which, perhaps, do not exist and only come to life when they hear that a disaster has happened then they come running and convene press conferences when, in fact, they ought to have done a lot to prevent some of these disasters. 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."
}