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"content": "If you look at the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution, Part 1(22)(a) refers to fishing. Part 2(1)(e) talks about fisheries. One time, we went to the State Department of Fisheries in Mombasa and we told the officers there that fisheries should be devolved. We wondered what they were still doing referring themselves to as a state department. They told us that the Government position is that fishing is a responsibility of the national Government whereas fisheries is a responsibility of the devolved governments. The tragedy is that when you look at this Bill, there is no definition of “fisheries” but “fishery.” When we met as part of public participation, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries claimed that there is no global definition of fisheries. Therefore, we must find a working definition of fisheries so that we know what we devolve. If you cannot define it, you cannot devolve it. As we look at this Bill which I am seconding, let us make sure that we capture a proper definition of “fisheries”. We should clearly draw a line and say that this is what the national Government should be doing and this is what the county governments should be doing. This reminds me of the drama surrounding Migingo Island. You will remember that the President of a neighbouring country declared that the water belongs to Uganda but the rock belongs to Kenya. It is that kind of murky situation that we have with The Fisheries Management and Development Bill (National Assembly Bill No.18 of 2014). This is because fisheries belong to the county governments while fishing belongs to the national Government. I believe that we are up to the task of resolving that confusion. Clause 6 of this Bill introduces the Kenya Fisheries Advisory Council (KFAC) which will advise the national Government on fisheries related matters. It proposes five Cabinet Secretaries (CSs) and four others, including one representative of the CoG. You could have some comfort that someone who represents the devolved units has been represented. However, as we consider Clause 6, we also need to know that the Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority (AFFA) was also established to provide advice to the national Government on agriculture, livestock and fisheries related matters. Are we creating another layer of bureaucracy or duplication of the role that has already been given to AFFA? Clause 7 talks about the Kenya Fisheries Service. As the Mover of the Bill has said, this is something quite similar to the Kenya Forests Service. It is a mongrel between the Kenya Forests Service and the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). It has got a lot of functions. The Kenya Fisheries Service is a very powerful agency. It will be responsible for defining policies, coming up with standards, quality assurance, marketing, coming up with guidelines, conducting public awareness and research. It will also be involved in ratification of treaties, raising revenues, monitoring, control and surveillance. These are very striking similarities with the objects of the KWS and the Kenya Forests Service. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is established as a disciplined and uniformed service. The Kenya Fisheries Service (KFS) is not explicitly designated as such even though the Bill says that the Director General of the Service can appoint disciplined officers. The cadre of the disciplined officers that can be appointed is provided in Part “b” of the First Schedule. The KFS will have powers to carry out the following functions; arrest, hot pursuit, search, seize vessels, detain, remove information and inspection. It will be manned by disciplined officers, particularly the Monitoring, Control and Surveillance Unit (MCSU). Disciplined officers, as provided in the Schedule, will be commandants, inspectors, sergeants, corporals etcetera . The question that we need to ask ourselves as the Senate is, how can these 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"
}