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"content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, Clause 14 mentions a database. Unknown to you Senators, the KRCS has mapped this country into four regions in terms of floods, epidemics, fires and other disasters. The country, the NDOC and all these organizations do not have such a database. That database is what makes them prepare for disasters; it is what makes them put a budget and volunteers. However, in the case of Solai Dam, they did not have the information because the owners of the dam did not disclose that they had a dam of that nature. I am told that there are many dams as big as this one. For example, there is a dam in Embu County that holds over 50 million litres of water. There is another one where Sen. Seneta comes from on our common border, in the Enzai Hill, holding 14 million litres of water. All these water resources and institutions have been mapped out for purposes of dealing with an issue, in case it arises. However, the one in Solai was a secret known only to the Patel fellows. They will answer to those questions because I have seen them in the dock. They will tell us why they did not tell the country what they were doing. Madam Temporary Speaker, I am told that the framework in this Bill was picked by South Africa and Ethiopia, who already have an Act of Parliament that was passed in 2009; and that is why I am saying we are extremely late. They borrowed the framework from this law that has been on the cards in Kenya since 2009. I could not insist that this matter is very urgent. Madam Temporary Speaker, we have an international framework under the law called The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2013-2050. Kenya is a signatory and has participated in this framework. Once again, I am surprised that Kenya does not think it is a good idea to pass the Disaster Management Bill into law. We have compared the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, which is actually the internationally acceptable term for risk reduction. In our case, we thought that “Disaster Risk Management,” as opposed to reduction would suit the cause. Madam Temporary Speaker, Part Three of this Bill is very important. As I said earlier, counties must be the first responders to disasters. Under Clauses 18, 19 and 20 of this Bill, we have set up the County Disaster Risk Management Committee, which comprises of the Governor, county representatives, County Commissioner, County Police Commander, representatives of the KRCS and others. In the case of Kilifi County, Gov. Kingi said that they passed a law on disaster management. However, when they called the County Commissioner for Kilifi to sit in that committee, he had to seek instructions from Nairobi. In fact, he appreciated Chapter 3 more than anybody else, and said, “Now I will rest, because I will summon the County Commissioner to that committee.” The County Commissioner did not want to sit on this Committee because he thought that it was a county function. We will now put it in law and he will be able to sit in that Committee. However, we want counties to be the first responders because the purpose of this Bill and the committee is to coordinate disasters. Madam Temporary Speaker, there were floods in Tana River County. If there is one gentleman who suffered the most, it is Gov. Dado of Tana River County, because the flooding was unbelievable. He was helpless and he had to wait for the Cabinet Secretary to fly to Mombasa, Kilifi, Marsabit and Garissa counties before he flew to Tana River 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."
}