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{
    "id": 719276,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/719276/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 180,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Ndiritu",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1539,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Mathenge Ndiritu",
        "slug": "samuel-mathenge-ndiritu"
    },
    "content": "later than Kenya and that is Mexico and one cannot be cut off from the water supply. Maybe they are rich and are able to assist the companies which supply water. When we talk about hydrologists and hydrology, it has been a department in the Ministry of Water all along. I am sure most of the Members have seen those graduated plates in rivers and that is the work of hydrologists because they are supposed to understand the behaviour of water resources on the surface, that is rivers and underground in boreholes and wells. On surface water, we have dams, pans and one has to know how much is being extracted. For that reason before you dig a borehole or do water extraction, you have to go through the hydrology section mostly known as Water Resource Management Authority (WRMA) because that is where most hydrologists are for them to allow you to extract an amount which will not affect other people downstream. The effect of that is being experienced, especially this time when there is drought and everybody is not getting water and there is literally policing of water sources to make sure that nobody is selfish. This is where professionalism comes in. These are people who, in their current status, operate without any board or regulations that can punish or look at their conduct. You find some would allow others depending on how much you can talk yourself, sometimes into their pocket - I am sorry to say so – and they will completely make it impossible for the people downstream to survive. Hon. Deputy Speaker, we recently had a visit to somewhere in Wajir - I cannot remember the name of the town - and they were talking about River Ewaso Nyiro. Those people upstream as far as Laikipia engage in a lot of farming in greenhouses. There are a lot of horticultural activities. They have literally dried the whole River beyond Archer’s Post. The testimony was that the river used to flow for 10 months in a year then it went down to six months and now barely flows for two months in a year. The people from the Water Resource Management Authority (WRMA) who are supposed to control this resource said that they cannot disconnect or destroy the extractions that have been built by those horticultural cartels. So we need people who are of high integrity who can deal with such cases. It is a pity. River Ewaso Nyiro would sink somewhere in Habaswein and it would be used for boreholes all the way to Daadab. You can imagine what it means to have people in this sector who understand what they should be doing. I have only made a case or said why we should have regulations for these professionals. We know some of them have even given people permission to drill holes even in houses. In Naivasha, there were cases where boreholes were drilled inside houses, covered and people would extract water. There are regulations that control how far you can construct boreholes but with quacks in the industry, it has always been impossible even for those working in the public service to be regulated and do the right things. The creation of this Board is timely. It is long overdue. Like any other profession in Kenya, we need this type of control. I know there have been problems with the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) with regard to academic qualifications where you find that almost anybody from any field becomes a lead researcher or are registered by NEMA which has not had qualifications for people who join. That is why I will start by looking at the qualifications of those people who are supposed to join this Board. I am okay with the first one where somebody should have a degree in hydrology or a postgraduate in the field of hydrology and water dynamics. I have a problem with the qualification that talks about computational or applied mathematics. Maybe we will have to dig deeper and know what that exactly implies because it could be opening a Pandora’s Box. Like I have said, in NEMA, almost everybody can come in and become a lead scientist in the field. I 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."
}