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{
    "id": 774606,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/774606/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 165,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Mbarire",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 78,
        "legal_name": "Cecily Mutitu Mbarire",
        "slug": "cecily-mbarire"
    },
    "content": "the rocks beneath. When I was growing up, I used to see Mt. Kenya every morning as I went to school. It was snowcapped and I thought that is how it ought to be and forever will be. Today, all that snow has melted away. All those snowcapped mountains which we bragged or talked about as a nation and visitors came to see are no longer there. There is nothing to show in terms of snow. We are being hit by drought and famine in scales we have never witnessed before. We are now seeing human-animal conflict and human to human conflicts rising as a result of lack of water and pasture. It is upon us Members of this House to support Government policies and frameworks which come to the Floor of this House. We need to act against climate change and prepare ourselves adequately on its adverse effects. To do that, we need to have enough finances. That is why, today, it is important for us to pass this important policy paper – We will begin to think of climate financing and prepare adequately. In the last Parliament we passed money which was meant for development plans with regard to taking care of famine, building broken bridges, controlling flooding, and repair of roads which were no longer passable. That affected the development plan of Government. Therefore, it is important for us to support this Motion. Our development agenda as a nation and the Vision 2030 are at a risk because we are unable to stick to development plans when we have to divert money to matters concerning climate change or mitigating its effects. Food security is one of the big four pillars which the President has identified and it may not happen if we continue to have the climate change phenomenon. Therefore, I support the proposal that is before us and urge fellow Members to support it. I do not see any Member who would go against it because it is against this real felt need that each one of us is witnessing even at our own private level in our homes, constituencies and counties. The National Policy on Climate Change that is before this House is important. We are signatory to major international agreements and conventions. An important one is the Paris Climate Agreement of December 2015 that established the need for climate financing, as the Leader of the Majority Party has mentioned. In that, they are proposing to set up an account that will be raising a minimum of Kshs100 billion per year to help in climate financing. It is, therefore, critical that we prepare ourselves by putting the necessary infrastructure and mechanism to access this money so that we can be able to benefit from it and mitigate the adverse effects of climate change. Out of this, we are sure that we can access resources from this external financing and also create our own domestic internal financing on climate change so that when such occurrences happen, we are able to deal with them quickly and properly. Through this policy, we will be able to track, monitor, evaluate and report about these sources of financing, how they are used and the impact of those resources on climate change. We will also be able to improve the capacity of the country to mobilise for climate financing through this policy. We do not want to be over- dependent on external financing. So, there will be need for us to come up with our own internal climate financing mechanism and mobilisation of resources from within the country. This will also be an opportunity for us to encourage the private sector to participate in climate financing because they are also immediate victims of climate change effects. I am sure it is also affecting their businesses. There will be a way of ensuring that they come on board so that they also participate in making the environment better, and to mitigate against climate change so that we are able to grow. Therefore, it is my prayer to this House that Members support it. No doubt, we need to have Members getting more and more interested in matters climate change. I know there was a 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."
}