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{
    "id": 932751,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/932751/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 433,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, when Americans are killed in the countries that I have mentioned, you will never see blood and dead bodies on American television screens. Where are the morals of our country? We cannot have this kind of recklessness by people who do nothing but live on social media insulting each other from morning to evening and posting all manner of things. That has to stop. We have a law that needs to be enforced. We do not have a shortage of laws against offensive public moral behaviour. Equally important, there are areas where this devastation has taken place. We have those who have died, those who have been left homeless and children who will be going to school. We also have wildlife in those areas that needs to be taken care of in terms of protecting people. Part of my early life, I lived in Ortum where River Muruny that devastated the area passes. It is a difficult terrain. It is hilly, forested and with wildlife and so on and so forth. West Pokot County, more than anything else, needs the entire national Government’s machine in relation to disaster management. Equally important, is the capacity and the ability of the national Government, through the Meteorological Department and other agencies, to inform people when we expect heavy rains. It is not enough for the Meteorological Department to keep on telling us that we will have above average rains or we will have rains up to Christmas time. They should tell people that we have areas like Murang’a, Kakamega, and West Pokot counties that are prone to landslides and advise people to move to safer ground. The Government has a duty to do that. Even where people nostalgically want to hang on to their traditional homes, they should be moved forcefully to save their lives and avoid disaster from happening. This is an act of negligence on the part of the national Government because this was foreseeable. Before the Solai Dam Tragedy, people saw the dam cracking and the embankment weakening, but nobody told those who lived on the path of the water to move away. We lost close to 50 people. After a short while, it becomes part of our history. In this country, there is a phrase that we should forget and move on. Madam Temporary Speaker, just like I tweeted, this matter should not be left to the County Government of West Pokot. This is because county governments in this country are too weak. Their resources are limited and their ability is not sufficient. There is no single county in this country that has helicopters to fly people through difficult terrains. The army should set up a camp in Kapenguria and Makutano towns and do everything humanly possible for the next three, four or five months to give comfort to our brothers and sisters in West Pokot County. They should build houses for them, repair the broken roads and give them a normalcy of life that they require. Madam Temporary Speaker, I beg to support."
}