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"id": 93308,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/93308/?format=api",
"text_counter": 209,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Michuki",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Environment and Mineral Resources",
"speaker": {
"id": 183,
"legal_name": "John Njoroge Michuki",
"slug": "john-michuki"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, my Ministry will continue to address these challenges through programmes and activities to be undertaken by the respective departments and parastatals mentioned above. In the same vein, I would like to enumerate some key achievements of my Ministry in the just ended financial year. These challenges include rehabilitation and restoration of the Nairobi River Basin, where the cleaning up exercise is ongoing. Also, there has been development of the National Climate Change Response Strategy which has been supplied to all Members of Parliament, as far as I know. There is also environmental education awareness launched in the eight provinces in Kenya to enhance enforcement and compliance with environmental regulations and standards. The Ministry has also responded to geohazard occurrences and mapped five geohazard prone areas. That is areas where lives have been lost through motor vehicles and careless driving. The Ministry has also carried out regional geological mapping and mineral exploration and covered 850 square kilometres in Kimangâau area in Mwingi District and Kiminini area in Bungoma District. The Ministry has undertaken mineral assessment of four mineral occurrences in Mbooni East, Machakos, Kibwezi, Kajiado, Meru and Garissa District. We have also undertaken exercises to estimate crop yields and forecasts. Livestock and wildlife census have also been carried out. The mapping of Cherangany, Mount Elgon and other water towers has also been undertaken. Land cover and land use mapping on the basin of River Nzoia was also completed. There was also mapping of land cover and use in Kwale District. We now have a Cessna aircraft with state-of-the-art cameras that can even count hair as it flies above. We acquired that aircraft for that purpose. We have also established FM stations in order to warn people during the floods. The latest was last year in Budalangâi where people were warned about floods and such catastrophes. We have El-Nino command posts that have provided information for the short- rain season which witnessed enhanced rainfall over Kenya, especially in October and December, 2009 as well as January and February, 2010. This year, we also introduced flood-watch forecasts during the long-rains season, that is, in March and April that provided four-day and seven-day advisories on areas likely to experience flooding and potential landslides in various parts of the country. That is the work of the Meteorological Department. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like to outline the activities which my Ministry proposes to fund in the current financial year in each sector. I will begin with the Department of General Administration. This is the supporting department to all the others, particularly on issues of personnel, supply of variety of requirements such as stationary. To enable me finance the support services and meet the personnel costs of the staff involved, I request this honorable House to approve a gross allocation of Kshs356,658,072 under Sub-Vote 210 of my Ministryâs Recurrent Vote out of which Kshs315,201,640, Kshs30,699,616 and Kshs10,713,816 will be spend under Heads 670,649, and 885 respectively. On Head 670 under the Development Vote, Kshs2 billion will be spent on conservation of water catchment areas. That is a strategic intervention in the districts adjoining the water towers that we have in Kenya. The exercise is ongoing, in partnership with the Ministry of Education. On Head 698 under the Development Vote, my Ministry has been preparing the modalities on the implementation of the Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project (LVEMP) Phase II, whose proposed gross expenditure is Kshs745,444,688. Out of this, the majority of the money comes from the World Bank because Kshs679,843,464 will come from the World Bank and the remainder from the Government of Kenya. The focus of the development in Lake Victoria will be investments to provide services, particularly soil conservation, tree planting and ensure that the degraded soils are restored. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, under Head 885, Kshs51,637,500 will be spent to undertake conservation activities in the Mount Elgon regional ecosystem. This will involve rehabilitation of degraded sites. Other activities will include support to communities adjacent to the forest to diversify to other income generating activities to improve livelihoods and reduce pressure on forest resources and protect the ecosystem. I will now proceed to discuss my proposal for the mining sector. This sector, through the Department of Mining and Geology will address the big challenges of making the mining sector contribute effectively to the countryâs economy by increasing its contribution to the GDP, to move from the current 2 per cent. The House ought to know that there are ethical problems in this department. This is a very worrying situation to the Ministry although we are finding solutions. However, this will take time to rectify. Because of this situation, the mineral resources remain underutilized. We must find a way of doing it. We will need the support of this House with regard to the measures that we will take to restore working conditions within that department. Kenya has high potential for both metallic and non-metallic industrial minerals as evidenced by the surveys already undertaken in the country. The sectorâs objective is to promote mineral resources development through private sector participation. There have been increased instances of loss of property and life through geological hazards across the country. In view of this, the Department of Mines and Geology has been mapping such areas in the country most likely to be affected by such hazards, particularly the quarries and other sand-harvesting areas where money comes before life. The Department will also carry out extensive surveys on environmental effects of mercury in the gold mining areas of the Lake Victoria Basin. It is not quite mining but panning, because mining has not been licensed as yet."
}