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{
    "id": 949710,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/949710/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 305,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Odhiambo-Mabona",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 376,
        "legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
        "slug": "millie-odhiambo-mabona"
    },
    "content": "disaster preparedness, it is not about training technical people with degrees. Sometimes, it is about training the people who are in the locality as the Hon. Member has said. I come from a place with a water body. I, therefore, know that the locals are able to deal with such incidences. So, why are we not investing in training locals to be able to deal with disaster cases? Even within the ferry, what was there to help the people who were in the ferry to deal immediately with disaster? This was a case of one car. Assuming the whole ferry went under, how would they have assisted? As leaders, we are failing this country. I am saying that as a member of the Budget and Appropriations Committee. If you see the money that we budget for things that do not matter! Yesterday, I was shocked to see an expose on Child Welfare Society of Kenya. I am not saying that there is corruption there but, if you see the amount of money we are giving an organization whose origin we do not know… In some instances, over Kshs100,000 was given per month and yet, we cannot put money in disaster preparedness when it comes to genuine cases. As the Budget and Appropriations Committee, we need to be serious. We should look at issues that touch on Kenyans. The other issue that I saw and that was astounding and shocking is that in the face of that tragedy… What we do nowadays as Kenyans is to become experts in the social media. Everybody was busy taking pictures and sharing them online. It was like they were in a competition of who will break the news first. We have all become media experts. I know it is important to cover news but, as Kenyans… If you see the reaction of the people who were asked whether they thought the victims can be given a rope to get rescued, they all remarked: “Too bad! We cannot do anything else”, as soon as the car went under. They stood and took the video of the car going under. I want to advise Kenyan that, despite the likes that one can get on social media, there are families that are sad and grieving and you are showing them their own kin going under. Let us be sensitive about the information that we want to share on social media. We may have wanted to show people that it was sad, but we affected other families. It is a tragedy and, as leaders, we need to own up that we are failing this country."
}