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{
    "id": 794180,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/794180/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 898,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Maanzo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2197,
        "legal_name": "Daniel Kitonga Maanzo",
        "slug": "daniel-kitonga-maanzo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I really support this Bill. First and foremost, many other countries which are surrounded by seas and oceans and have a lot of internal waters have a coast guard service. It is very useful in this era whereby we need to secure our territory and territorial waters. The beauty about it is these are specific officers who are trained in a specific manner to handle police work among other works while protecting our territory. Of course, the mandate of Kenya Navy is quite clear and you can see from the Bill that they will deal with both internal and external waters. Territorial waters mean inland waters, internal waters, sea and contiguous zones of Kenya. When it comes to the protection of the cleanliness of our waters to ensure that they are safe, it means the source of pollution will be determined. That has been one of our biggest problems when we want to stop pollution of our oceans and rivers by sewage and other pollutants. It is one of the challenges which have been hard to execute. We want to stop pollution of our oceans and rivers by sewage and other pollutants. It has been one of the challenges and now we have found the answer on how best to deal with it. We will make sure that first and foremost, our waters are clean and they provide a clean environment. In the same breath, you will find that those particular officers are drawn from among officers who may have retired early from the Navy, public service or police. They are people who can be easily trained and can handle this service very well. They have specific skills on how to use boats which could have ammunition or to fire in the event of making an arrest on a vessel which is escaping on water and most importantly, people who come to steal our fish in Lake Victoria and the coastal region. Migingo Island was quite an issue in the 10th Parliament. It was such a mess because we did not have a proper mechanism of establishing exactly where the borders were. Eventually, Kenya spent a lot of money. We now know that Migingo Island is in Kenya. We need to protect our territory and this sort of service is important. It will be based in different parts of the country. As the Member for Tharaka said, we will have the Grand High Falls Dam, which will be a huge dam. There is also the Thwake-Athi Dam in Makueni County. All those large bodies of water will definitely attract tourists and a lot of activities. They will need protection. You need officers who are specific and who work in that region. The passage of this Bill into law will create employment for a lot of our youths. That has been one of the challenges in Kenya. It will also create employment for people who have a passion in this area, and who come from the coastal region, the Lake Region or rivers and are good swimmers. The swimming exercises and lessons that we give children in school can now be useful when we have divers and people can do other works other than the ordinary. One of the biggest challenges currently is security. We will now have proper officers to guard our ferries at the coast and any other vessels. When they need escort, they can be escorted by experts who have a mandate emanating from a law. I, therefore, want to thank the team of Hon. Paul Koinange, which put this Bill together. In fact, it will pass with very minimal amendments. A serious job has been done on it. The balance is such that it will serve all parts of the country and especially where there are borders with lakes or the ocean. It will stop people who come to fish, take our fish and later on sell it to us. We will be able to manage all that. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}