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"content": "11th Parliament under the able leadership of the former Meru County Woman Member of Parliament, Hon. Florence Kajuju. What were the objectives and rationale of this protocol? The first one was to build confidence among member states through various regional programmes and projects. The regional countries and states have a number of programmes and projects along the River Nile. Secondly, the objective was to negotiate the cooperative framework agreement called the Cooperative Framework Agreement. Thirdly, it was to establish a permanent institution of the Nile Basin that every country can refer to. The ratification of the CFA will, therefore, enable the basin states of the River Nile to achieve all the objectives. There was signing, ratification and implementation of the protocol. According to Article 43 of CFA, the agreement shall come into force on the 6th day following the day of the deposit of the instruments of ratification or acceptance at the African Union. That is a function of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Once we approve those instruments on behalf of the Government of Kenya and on behalf of President Uhuru Kenyatta, the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs will deposit that instrument with the African Union, so that the Nile Basin Commission can become operational. Ultimately, they want to build a Commission. This is established under Article 15. So far, this agreement has been signed by only six-member states. Those states are Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. All the six countries have ratified the agreement. It is a very emotive issue. In some countries, it is huge. In some countries, it is the backbone of their economy. In some countries, they are at the tail end of the river from where they get water. So, it is a complex called the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). The NBI is funded and supported by member countries through the support of several multilateral and bilateral development partners, including the African Development Bank, the Global Environment Facility, the World Bank, UNDP, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, among others. All these are consortiums of European nations. It is good because this is a House that is mandated by the Constitution to deal with budgetary issues. So, what is Government of Kenya’s annual subscription to the NBI? As of now, it stands at US$224,000. This is an addition to continuous in-kind support that provides resources to the NBI. To give Members time, what are the recommendations? What did this Committee say? The Regional Integration Committee of the 11th Parliament is asking this House to approve the ratification of the Nile Basin Cooperative Agreement by the Republic of Kenya. This is one of the gains in the new Constitution of 2010. Previously, Ministers used to sit in their offices and sign any agreement with any Tom, Dick and Harry and any state. This House, under Article 95(2), represents the interests of the people of Kenya. If there is an interest that touches on your constituency or your county, then you have an opportunity to take Members back. I hope the Member for Samburu West, Hon. Naisula, the Member for Samburu East, and the Members from Laikipia are here. The most difficult agreement that this House passed was the Kenya/United Kingdom Defence Agreement. It was very difficult. It was called British Army Training Unit Kenya ( BATUK). For the first time, I realised that as the Member of Parliament 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."
}