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{
    "id": 930537,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/930537/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 254,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nambale, ANC",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Sakwa Bunyasi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2511,
        "legal_name": "John Sakwa Bunyasi",
        "slug": "john-sakwa-bunyasi"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I rise to contribute to this amendment Bill. I, obviously, support what has been agreed upon earlier. The amendment simplifies provisions in the earlier Act. I have no specific difficulty with the amendment as proposed. I think it is an opportune moment to comment on our overall approach. You have heard us, in this House, singularly talk about drought. We have disasters. Probably, we should take them in the same vein. I address this as if it is going to cover both droughts and other disasters. Drought-prone areas become flood-prone areas when they get water, which is supposed to be a blessing. We have other disasters, including areas which get swamped when significant soil movement occurs following rains. Drought is not an event. It is a very long process. We know that there are areas we can point out on a map and say that, in respect of their extended lack of rainfall, drought will occur. Those are areas you can identify with a very high probability of accuracy. In fact, it is almost certain. There are also so many other areas where disasters occur with minimal probability. Projections are not perfect. Events may occur and you note them as past events. So, in thinking about a fund of this nature, it should include definitions that are functional. There should be geography-based definitions and definitions of occurrence or lack of occurrence of certain phenomenon. There are areas outside of the ASAL regions where we can have extreme cases occurring. Whereas it is important to have a fund that will provide relief during times of disasters, I think it is very important that the fund and the interventions be sufficiently broad minded to provide long-term solutions to the problem in all affected areas. It is unfortunate that we have now taken for granted that people must migrate when weather conditions are adverse. Sometimes, when people migrate, they can be put temporarily in a place where they can get water, food, shelter and cooling, if there is extreme heat. We can get water, schools and food moved to where they have migrated to. As a country, we sometimes behave in ways that have been passed by times. If someone was to look at us from Mars, they would say that our Government can sometimes be callous. It expects drought to happen, it waits for it to happen then it comes in with limp hands. It is not a secret that when there is drought, people use it as an opportunity to make money on the side. If you read the Auditor-General’s Report on the activities that happen in these drought-stricken areas, you will find that many people take advantage of this situation to make money. This does not only happen in our county; it happens during war in other countries. That is an unfortunate human tendency. I would want that in drought-stricken areas like the northern part of Kenya we predict, with low probability of being wrong, drought then the Government comes in with long-term solutions. The disruption in people’s lives and individual suffering is immense. The policy makers are in air-conditioned units. They drive in air-conditioned vehicles even if they are Government vehicles. They are out there in other places and where we are now. We are here pontificating and sometimes we appear to show empathy, but that is not enough. These types of funds should be available to provide opportunities for long-term interventions even during years that do not seem to be bad. We should aim to change the human condition in these drought-stricken areas over time. It has been 50 years since Independence. It has been millennia since these problems started occurring. At this rate, it going to other millennia with this problem occurring and we will 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."
}