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{
    "id": 719272,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/719272/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 176,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Maanzo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2197,
        "legal_name": "Daniel Kitonga Maanzo",
        "slug": "daniel-kitonga-maanzo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this important Bill. The Hydrologists Bill is very important for the country because as we know, water is a devolved function and is being handled by the counties. The country is in short supply of experts in the area of water, hydrologists for that matter who are degree holders and also at lower levels. The practice has been that if you drill a borehole and there happens to be no water, then there are rumours that a certain water engineer is going to be punished. The mechanism to deal with such a person has not been formalised. I know of a lot of dry boreholes which have been dug by mistake and it is because there is no proper regulation. Now, that we have this law, I believe we are going to do better in the area of hydrology and not just boreholes, but dams and rivers. For example, Athi River is very much polluted and we expect hydrologists to know the source of pollution and give evidence in the Environmental Court but this has not happened. The moment there is a body like the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) which is parallel to what happens to the lawyers, then all the specialists in this area will be registered and monitored professionally to make sure that there is no misconduct. The offences given in this law have only a fine of Kshs100,000. I believe most hydrologists are richer than this and if they make a mistake they can pay. We need to make it really punitive at the Third Reading so that whoever is not professionally qualified or misleads the national or county governments on certain specifications 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."
}