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{
    "id": 67563,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/67563/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 173,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mrs. Noor",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 375,
        "legal_name": "Sophia Abdi Noor",
        "slug": "sophia-noor"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to support this Motion. I am a very disturbed person as I support it because I just came from the region affected by famine. I have been going round and I saw the real situation on the ground. I saw a small child and a woman die in this drought. That gives me many problems. I am quite disturbed because disasters such as drought and floods are not new in this country and the world over. These are situations that everybody knows could face us. It is unfortunate that a whole Government which was told in advance that the country will face drought was not prepared. The Government did not even prepare its people. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the pastoralist communities of this country were not prepared. They did not know anything because the situation caught many people by surprise. It was due to changing weather patterns. If the Government does not go round to educate its own masses and tell them about the situation, people will not prepare themselves. Information is power. Unfortunately, the Government has not prepared its people and yet, the disaster is here with us. It has been there. Several countries in the world have prepared themselves. They have even come up with school curriculums which teach school children how disasters affect the world. This is right from primary schools and secondary schools. People are learning about disasters all over the world. However, here in our country, leave alone the schools, our masses are not prepared. We have nothing to indicate disasters. Water is a basic need and it is required by every individual in this country. However, when our people and their source of livelihood cannot access that basic right and end up losing their lives due to lack of water, that is unacceptable. It is a shame for our own people to die due to lack of water and food. The Ministry of Water and Irrigation must prioritize its use of resources. We will not allow the Ministry to use resources in a particular area because certain people come from those areas. Every Kenyan is a taxpayer and they must use their resources properly. The resources must reach out to every region in this country. Our secondary schools and university students are not able to go to school. All students are back at home. I want the Ministry of Education to hear me very well. The Ministry must waive school fees for all the children who are affected. There is very little that can be done in that situation. People have already suffered. I have seen Permanent Secretaries and Ministers going round in choppers saying that they are doing assessments. It is unfortunate for Permanent Secretaries and Ministers to go round at this time because they had this information well in advance. The Ministers accompanied by five Permanent Secretaries met me at a place called Shant-Abaq and I was there. They said they had come to do a drought assessment. That is wrong. They could have prepared themselves well in advance and put a strategy in place to address the issue of drought and other related activities. I urge the Ministry of Water and Irrigation to immediately carry out water trucking because people are suffering. Food distribution is something that is required, not only for human beings but also we need fodder for the animals. People must be sensitive to this issue. The Government must be sensitive to this issue. The Mover of the Motion has talked about Egypt and Israel. Whenever I talk about these things, it is a challenge to our Government. That is because the source of water that Egypt uses is from our country. Egypt has adequately addressed the issues of hunger and food security among other things. It is high time that our Government became sensitive to our issues. I support"
}