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{
    "id": 814902,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/814902/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 47,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I am reading this because it supports my argument that the Authority must be domiciled under the Ministry responsible for water. Mr. Speaker, Sir, irrigation has helped a lot of countries which are water-deficit. For example, Egypt use waters of the River Nile to do its irrigation. Today, Egypt is food-sufficient compared to Kenya. It is sad that we are not able to produce enough food because of poor planning. This Bill has come at the right time. I urge the Committee concerned to critically look at this Bill and see what needs to be amended to enrich it. We must make sure the national and county governments work together, so that irrigation services are properly supported so that our country becomes food secure. Currently, a lot of illegal irrigation takes place in this country. We have many flower farms in this country. We export a lot of flowers to Europe and other places which earns us foreign exchange. However, a lot of damage is caused when harvesting water. If go to some parts of this country, you will see haphazard water abstraction which really affects the riparian rights of the lower users without authority from the Water Resource Management Authority (WARMA). This is what needs to be controlled. There needs to be a co-ordination between this irrigation Authority and also the WARMA that manages water abstraction rights for people who want to use it for irrigation. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation (NWCPC) and others which deal with large infrastructure like dams and boreholes must coordinate the use of water for purposes of irrigation. This is the only way we get be boost production of food in this country. I happy with the proposal here that composition of this Authority will consist of the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Principal Secretaries for the Ministry of Water and Sanitation and the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation. We have good proposals. However, in terms of looking at the current dispensation of devolution, we devolved agriculture without reference to the county governments. Therefore, the Authority proposed here must ensure that there is proper coordination. There is haphazard planning for water and dams which will not help this country if it not managed properly. We all have seen what has happened with the Solai Dam. Dams are serious infrastructural projects that must be properly designed and attended to. When we put a dam upstream of settlement schemes, the danger that we expose to the people who are downstream must be understood. We must be careful because of the people who live downstream of dams. We do not want to expose them to danger. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this is an important Bill. Let us support it with necessary amendments. Personally, it is important that we domicile irrigation matters under the Ministry of Water and Sanitation. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}