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{
    "id": 767242,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/767242/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 232,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wambua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13199,
        "legal_name": "Enoch Kiio Wambua",
        "slug": "enoch-kiio-wambua"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, for this opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I want to begin by saluting my colleague, Sen. Dullo, for bringing this Motion to the Floor of the House. I stand in support of the Motion to operationalise the National Drought Management Authority Act. I want to begin by saying that in this day and age drought should never be an emergency in this country. We have come of age as a nation to sufficiently invest in early warning systems and not just rely on foreign actors to tell us when disasters are approaching. I want to go on record that by operationalising this Act and giving the authority to the team to execute its mandate, we will effectively be checking the tendency by certain sections of the leadership in this country to declare drought a national disaster every year, which only serves to open avenues for expenditures that in most cases cannot even be accounted for. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in support of this Motion, as a country, we need to move beyond the legislative and institutional frameworks of tackling drought. We have examples to learn from elsewhere especially in the Mediterranean Basin in countries like Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Spain, and Tunisia. They have developed a uniform principle code which enables them to act in certain manners and behave in certain ways which are proactive in dealing with eminent drought. That is a leaf we can borrow to implement in our arid and semi-arid regions. In support of the Motion again, there is need to create synergies among relevant national and county government agencies, so that we are proactive in addressing ourselves to the issue of drought. As we speak here today, we have a lot of rains in most parts of this country including the semi-arid and arid regions. What is happening is that, in those regions that are drought-stricken, today, residents are dealing with the challenges of floods and waterborne diseases. Last month, they were dealing with the challenges of drought. Those who survived the challenges of drought and may survive the challenges of floods and waterborne diseases in this season will be lucky to escape the challenges of drought which are just about to set in again in the next two months. As a nation, we have to be deliberate and serious about our investment in dealing with drought situations in this country. As I conclude, it is really a shame that we are talking of an authority whose annual budget is Kshs38 million and they are supposed to cover almost a half of this country. That money will just be enough for them to do what they have been doing which is to purchase a few four-wheel drive vehicles and move around the country and they will not be able to do much. We have a fund that was set up into which money has been allocated but there are no regulations on access to those funds. As you remember, just a few weeks ago, we were unable to disburse funds to the counties because we had not received regulations on the management of conditional grants from the Treasury. Today we are dealing with an even 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."
}