Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 774660,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/774660/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 219,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Waweru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 1378,
        "legal_name": "Dennis Kariuki Waweru",
        "slug": "dennis-kariuki-waweru"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to support this Motion on the Adoption of Sessional Paper No.3 of 2017 on the National Policy on Climate Finance. I would like to note right from the beginning that the former President of France, Francois Hollande, told us that we have one single mission, namely, to protect and hand on the planet to the next generation. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, with this Sessional Paper, this House will not be taken just as a House of lamentations. It will now start taking steps towards mitigating the effects of climate change by creating a framework for financing and putting in place measures that will mitigate the effects of climate change. I would like to note that when Kenyans awarded themselves the Constitution of Kenya, 2010, they in effect committed themselves and also gave themselves responsibilities towards how they shall handle their environment. This is captured well in Articles 42, 69 and 70 of our Constitution that broadly lay out the ideas that we have as a country as to how we relate with our environment. We are a country of aspirations. Our aspirations are captured elsewhere beyond our Constitution. We also have conventions that we have committed ourselves to internationally and some of which relate to the environment and climate change. Most recently, this Government has pronounced itself on something we are calling the big four. These big four range from food security, housing, manufacturing and health. What we need to note is that all these cannot happen in an environment that is harsh or inhabitable for humans. That is why I find this Sessional Paper quite relevant and timely. I remember a certain quote by the President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, who said that we have to wake up to the urgency of the now. What is happening now as has been said by many Members of this House this afternoon is in stark contrast of what we grew up knowing. If you go to my constituency, Dagoretti South, and compare what is called the Kirichwa Big River or Kirichwa Kubwa and Kirichwa Ndogo and how we knew them when we were growing up, these rivers are a pale comparison of what they used to be. These are visible impacts of climate change. Some of us who happen to be city dwellers are realising the effects of climate change because the reality is alive to us and I would say it is a harsh reality. Going beyond the financing of climate change, we have to see these issues beyond just the mobilisation of funds. We have to start asking ourselves how the funds will be utilised. To my mind, there are two issues that we really need to invest in. The first issue is that we need to involve the academia in this country. We have universities upon universities in this country. We need to put resource into research on issues of climate change. We need to find out the new and emerging trends that we can plug into the new knowledge that is coming up. Even as we do this research, we will have to dig into the past and see what it is that our forefathers were doing right. My father once reminded me that his grandfather, who is my great grandfather, took great offence when any individual cut down a tree for no purpose. Our traditional learning tells us that you cannot uproot a Mugumo tree carelessly. They had some wisdom that helped them conserve the environment. It is in that light that I say that beyond the financing, we have to look at the utilisation of the funds and I propose that research should be one of the areas that we invest in. Secondly, we need to invest in compliance. I say this being a representative of a constituency that is in the great City of Nairobi. The greatest offenders of our environment are the elite and the very well-to-do. 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."
}