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{
    "id": 676510,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/676510/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 293,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Mrs. Mwendwa",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 275,
        "legal_name": "Winfred Nyiva Mwendwa",
        "slug": "nyiva-mwendwa"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Motion. From the outset, I want to say that this Motion is long overdue. If I was to be asked, what is more important for schools between power and water, I would prefer water. This is because water is more important than power. Maybe some Members might not have as much problems as those of us who come from arid and semi-arid areas. I recommend that water is taken not just to primary schools, but to all schools with no water, both secondary and primary. In the semi-arid areas you meet children carrying plastic bottles with mud inside and they call it water. That is what they drink. You will be surprised that some of it is even taken to teachers to prepare their food. These also children drink this water. Definitely it affects their growth because it causes many waterborne diseases. It is important to point out that it is not cheap to pipe water to schools, but if we were thoughtful of our children, we would roof most of the institutions with corrugated iron sheets so that we can harvest a lot of water. Where I come from, in the past we have had Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) providing water to schools. They would harvest rain water from the roofs and store it in big concrete tanks they had constructed. It was a shame that the tanks were not looked after properly. We would draw the water completely and leave the big concrete tanks empty and most of them cracked. I am sure today, with the advancement we have, it is possible to even have these tanks. Today there are very large plastic tanks which can also be installed. This can be an alternative where piping of water might take long. It can be a stop-gap measure while we wait to be connected with piped water. If we were convinced about piping water to schools the way we connected power to schools, we will be many miles ahead. This is definitely long overdue. I do not think this should be pushed to the county governments because this is a major programme. It is embarrassing when we go to desert places like Israel and Egypt where there is no rain. Israel depends on Lake Galilee for piped water. This lake is smaller than Lake Naivasha and yet they pipe that water, not just for domestic use but also for irrigation. It looks like we do not want to develop anything to do with agriculture. I think time has come for us to act. I hope this Motion will be a wake-up call because I cannot see anybody objecting to it. I support it. If The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}