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{
    "id": 800366,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/800366/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 186,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, I will take this country back on the history lane. You remember, there was another time we had another tragedy that involved Nakumatt Supermarket along Moi Avenue. What we heard is that there is a business enterprise that locked Kenyans inside the supermarket when fire broke out. We know of cases in Industrial Area, where Kenyans who work in particular industries are locked inside so that if a tragedy were to happen, all of them will be condemned to death. I was shocked on Madaraka Day when I went to join the people I represent in the Nyamira County. I visited one constituency called Borabu and while I was passing round, I received information that two families working in Kerito Tea Estate had lost their loved ones. As Africans, going by our tradition of mourning with the dead, I visited those families and gave them my condolences. I was surprised to learn that for you to access those families in those factories, you need the permission from the owner of that factory. We are talking about a factory that employs over 1000 people who are Kenyans, Africans and black like me and you, but people who run industries casually treat Africans like we do not belong to the same human race. Therefore, I hope that this Select Committee will go deeper into the conditions under which our brothers and sisters who are our fellow black Africans working in these enterprises are subjected to. I hope this time, we will see a Senate that has teeth. We want recommendations that can propose stern action including, if possible, withdrawal of any licence of a Mr. Patel. If he is found culpable, we should make very firm recommendations. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have also had the benefit of looking at the way the Motion was drafted. I get the feeling that the county government did not respond to this tragedy the way it is supposed to. The people who have been acknowledged there is the national Government and the Red Cross. I sat here wondering where the county government was. When we came up with the devolved system of government, the hope of Kenyans was that when such tragedies happen, the first call of response would be the county governments. We cannot wait for the national Government to move from Nairobi all the way to Nakuru County to respond to a tragedy that could easily be attended to by the county government. I have read that there are a number of people from the County of Nakuru who are hospitalised to-date. I am wondering what the response has been. What action has the County Government of Nakuru taken? I hope that when this Committee goes down to investigate this Solai Dam Tragedy, this would enable us to interrogate the kind of response we get from the county governments when we have these tragedies. That is why we have the county governments. I have seen the proposed recommendations on the issues that this Committee should address. However, there is one thing that I wanted to bring to the attention of this Committee. As a country, there is a time we passed an Act which was titled ‘Workman Compensation Act.’ Under that Act, it used to be compulsory that if you are running a factory, you must take out insurance for all the workers working under your factory. In this country, we have two organizations; Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA) and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA). However, none has any legal framework on to how license people who want to construct dams. 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."
}