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{
    "id": 719253,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/719253/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 157,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Njuki",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1372,
        "legal_name": "Onesmus Muthomi Njuki",
        "slug": "onesmus-muthomi-njuki"
    },
    "content": "pasture for their cattle and wildlife. It is all about water. If water is available, the other resources will always be there. This is a very unique Bill because it seeks to provide information that has not been there. Water resource management will be easier and more or less regulated if we have a Bill that will regulate research and hydrologists that we rarely hear about. The few times we come across the activities of hydrologists are when we have crises. Last year, when we had the issue of the water tunnel for the Ndakaini Dam is when we saw the Chief Hydrologist giving information about why we should have excess water harvested and diverted during the rainy season. It is all about the balance of what we do with water and when it is in plenty so that in scarcity we can use it. This Bill is welcome because it will put some order into the whole sector of water research and regulation. Many institutions and communities have water schemes in this country. If you go back to the counties and the constituencies, you will find bodies that have come together to have a water scheme where they contribute or the Government gives them money to do that. There has been very little regulation by National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and other bodies concerned to ensure that this natural resource is used in such a way that we do not have people who suffer out of scarcity by over-utilisation of water by others. For example, on very big rivers, when water is harnessed at the source where people normally do intake in an unregulated manner, the people downstream normally suffer to the extent that it sometimes causes a clash between communities living along the river. A body like this will regulate and bring sanity to the sector so that we can have everybody benefitting from the resources. Every field that is not regulated is definitely prone to quacks. This Bill has brought knowledge on who is a hydrologist, who can be an assistant hydrologist and what fines can be put in place to ensure whoever masquerades as a hydrologist can be brought to book. This will definitely bring discipline so that we do not have the public being conned or ripped off by people who pretend to be knowledgeable in the field of hydrology. If you go back to the villages today and you want someone to check for you where you can drill a shallow well, you will find that there are people who masquerade as knowing how to look for water. Sometimes they may look at what tree is growing where and they tell you that where we have this tree there must be water. Sometimes they tell you: “Because this kind of soil is here, you will find water; you just need to dig 60 metres.” Most of the time, it may be true or not true. These people sometimes get a lot of confidence once they have been paid by people who are not aware of what is happening. They end up growing into unregulated professionals who have not been inducted and have no knowledge in hydrology. Therefore, this Bill will bring some sanity into that profession. Last but not least, the water resource management boards in various parts of the country at the moment will be well coordinated and will work together with this body that will be established; the Hydrologists Registration Board. There is a licence that you need to renew every year to ensure that you have knowledge you have to keep updating. With those few remarks, I would like to support the Bill."
}