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{
    "id": 847385,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/847385/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 243,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Funyula, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) Wilberforce Oundo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13331,
        "legal_name": "Wilberforce Ojiambo Oundo",
        "slug": "wilberforce-ojiambo-oundo-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. I stand, at the outset, to support the Motion by virtue of what my able Chairperson has stated. As I support the Motion, there are some pertinent issues that we need to raise on the Floor of the House that, probably, will support and assist the ERC as they amend the regulations to ensure they come into force. First of all, I note that in the entire regulations, there was no evidence of public participation and that contradicts the law, the Constitution and precedent that has already been set. No regulation, law or anything that has the force of law should be allowed to become law without public input. It is becoming a vexing issue that many regulation-making authorities do not undertake any public participation and if they do, it is purely selective. Members of the public who will concur with the regulations are the ones selected for public participation. So, it is a call to all the regulation making authorities, through the Attorney-General’s chamber, to ensure that we comply with the requirement of public participation. It is becoming costly and a waste of time and public resources that these regulation making authorities make regulations that end up being annulled on account that they do not comply with the provisions of the Statutory Instruments Act and, more so, the question of enforcement or compliance to public participation. A second issue that becomes glaringly clear is that the regulations as crafted – while the intentions were good as enacted in 2015 – are impossible to enforce. They are so ambiguous, unclear and badly drafted to an extent that it is practically impossible for any officer or member of the public to enforce the same. Our apprehension as a Committee was that they were going to be used as an avenue to extort and harass innocent Kenyans all over the country. Merely stating that a house of a certain number of bedrooms ought to have solar water heating system was extremely unclear because the size of the bedrooms does not indicate the amount of water to be consumed that requires solar water heating. It was hilarious that they had even proposed to impose regulations where there was no piped or running water. So, essentially, it was not making any sense at all. Consequently, as a Committee, it was obviously felt it did not meet the threshold of practicability or application. It is important for us to appreciate that we are moving into an era of environmental conservation. That era requires that we comply, as much as possible, with green energy and we design and construct smart buildings. One of the requirements of smart buildings is to minimise use of non-renewable energy so that we depend mostly on renewable energy. As much as we are 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."
}