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{
    "id": 914673,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/914673/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 340,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nakuru Town East, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. David Gikaria",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2489,
        "legal_name": "David Gikaria",
        "slug": "david-gikaria"
    },
    "content": "alternative channels of communication like the use of vernacular FM radio stations and translations in fostering public participation so that they are not excluded from active engagement. When we went to Kilifi, a very young girl came up and looked at the Bill on the face value. She is the one who came up with the conversation on one year penalty. She asked why we are charging one year where somebody could be causing 100 deaths. She had just picked the Bill and started reading. I think it is important for us to use other models of communication. In most of the places that we visited, people asked why not exhaust geothermal or other sources of energy. I have said and I will repeat it that geothermal will be depleted after some time. Solar and wind are not always available. Hydro is the worst because of its cost. So, this is a cheaper source of energy that we need to look into. The other thing that we observed is the huge composition of the Authority of 19 members. We are looking at it to see how best we can reduce the number. Most members of the public were complaining about the qualifications of the Director General of the Authority. They say that it is beyond the reach of most Kenyans. This can only go to a bracket of certain qualified persons. They were complaining more about the ten years’ requirement and they were proposing that we get to five years, so that we can widen the net of people who can qualify to be the Director General. There was also the issue of the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and how they will be giving their reports. People have complained about NEMA in the past. They claim that NEMA just gives licences even when it is very harmful to the environment and the people living in those areas. They said that we need to look at NEMA and the way they write their reports. First of all, they are supposed to conduct public participation in every area where they think there will be an effect, but NEMA ignores and goes ahead with its plan even in places where the public has raised queries. A point in case is when we visited Mwingi the other day. The public was very categorical that they do not want the mining of coal and they gave their reservations. However, NEMA went ahead and gave a positive report. A company was engaged and said it is only that there were demonstrations that the extraction of coal in Mwingi never took off. You could tell the love the people have for their land in Mwingi. They are proud of the land that give them sweet water melons and not about the extraction of coal. We also talked about compensation. If we have to do a nuclear plant, we have to go to an area that has a lot of water because we need a lot of water to cool the system and not because the water will be going through the process. It is meant to cool the system. Once it cools, it produces steam and that steam is used to produce energy. That is a very critical component. The people of Mwingi said that if we were going to their area to use their land, they would expect compensation towards their settlement, displacement and their lives in case of harmful exposure. The Bill also led us to indicate about quotas and shares of proceeds from nuclear power. As you produce, just like you produce geothermal particularly in Nakuru and Baringo counties of Rift Valley and other places, people get some share of the revenue. That is what most of the people were requesting to have. The other bit is about the independent body to check the safety and security of nuclear plants and materials. People are scared. For the first time, they made it very categorical that they would not like these regulatory body to be under a ministry that supervises them. For example, 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."
}