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{
    "id": 677722,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/677722/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 324,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "to lack of proper planning and execution of planned and structured development. Sometimes I cry in my county. There is a big town called Chwele. The Government has seen it grow into one of the biggest commodity exchange markets in this region only competing with Karatina and, probably, places like Luanda and one or two others. However, the place is growing as an unmitigated slum. One day I was shocked when I was driving around Chwele. I was told that a young school boy had fallen into a pit latrine. He went to relieve himself. He ended up in a latrine whose edges had worn out. It caved in. It was full. It took us two days to scoop our human waste to remove the body of this boy. If there was planned development, such towns would have a sewer line. So, the idea of anybody dropping or falling into a pit latrine will not arise. You will have roads, avenues, proper police stations, industrial centres, proper sources of water and disposal of storm and waste water. However, there is no such thing. I am also happy about this Bill because it provides that counties that have a commonality of interests can plan together. I can imagine a situation where the distinguished Senator for Kirinyaga can have his county and Embu planning together because of the proximity to each other. The Bungoma and Kakamega counties can decide to plan together on how to harness the use of the waters of River Nzoia. As we do so, we want those counties that want to plan together to take into account the fact that the environment must be protected, aesthetics must be taken into account and we must avoid destroying our wetlands. There is somebody in Nairobi who is building and blocking the Nairobi River opposite T-Mall. One building is over and the other building is coming up. You will all remember that there were terrible and frightening floods in South C and South B areas a few months ago that were attributed to the blockage of the river by that development. The gentleman walked to the court, injuncted Nairobi County Government in perpetuity and is continuing the construction with total impunity. I fail to understand how our own courts are pervious to this kind of situation. That is why this Bill would have done a lot more to set up physical planning courts under the Judiciary with a special jurisdiction, special knowledge and special focus on how to adjudicate on environmental and planning matters. If you walk to the High Court to a judge who ordinarily hears criminal cases about assaults, robbery, murder and you go there challenging a physical development plan, chances are that the judge may not fully appreciate the magnitude of what you are talking about. We need to have these courts, just like we now have Land Courts where we expect judges to specialize in appreciating when an old woman is being disposed of her 0.5 acre by a rich neighbour. A court should be able to understand this and even move insitu to see what we are talking about. When we are talking about destruction of wetlands and greenbelts like the ones that the late Prof. Wangari Maathai fought for, you remember those notorious companies called Ballistic Missile 1990, Fired Aph and others that invaded Karura Forest. She had to put her life on the line while Bishop Gitari walked with his robes from All Saints Cathedral to Karura Forest. Why did they do that? It is because our planning had 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"
}