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{
    "id": 664668,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/664668/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 296,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Lesuuda",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13122,
        "legal_name": "Naisula Lesuuda",
        "slug": "naisula-lesuuda"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, thank you for your protection. I also wish to add my voice to this important Bill. It is timely and important for us, as a country. I echo the sentiments of many of my colleagues. One of the things that we are so sure is that from the time oil was discovered in the country, there was a lot of excitement and expectations. It is those expectations and challenges we are trying to address through this Bill. I hope we will pass it as quickly as possible so that it can be operationalised by the Cabinet Secretary (CS) and the Board members. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I want to address myself to two issues. One of them is who will benefit from this resource in the counties? We do remember that when Tullow Oil started exploring oil in Turkana, there were various issues which came about and they required to be addressed within the legal framework. One of them was the local communities being involved in the whole process of oil exploration. There were a lot of expectations from the local communities and they wanted to know what was in store for them. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, most of the land where oil has been discovered is occupied by pastoralists. For many years, we have continued to have conflict in those areas because of limited resources such as land for pasture and water. However, we need to ask these communities to let us explore oil for their own benefit and the country as whole. So, it is very important for us to have guidelines and a law in place on how these communities will benefit from the resources that sit in their counties. It is also important to know what their share is. This Bill expressly states how the revenue will be shared between the National Government and also the county government. I believe we will have regulations in place on how to spend money that will be given to counties. We want to see accountability on how this money will be spent. It will be useful if it will be used in provision of education, water and health services. We can also invest in human resource that we have as a country. If we invest this money to education sector, then it will be able to tackle a lot of these issues. It is important like many of my colleagues have said, that the local communities have to benefit, especially on issues to do with the transfer of skills, the work, not just the manual work, but even the human resource aspect, so that those communities who live around where the oil is being explored can benefit from it. Mr. Temporary Speaker Sir, the environmental aspects and issues have to be looked into and no compromise should be made in these areas, because the people in those communities will be greatly affected. Their livelihoods will be affected if 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"
}