Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 963662,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/963662/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 289,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Dr.) Musuruve",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13188,
        "legal_name": "Getrude Musuruve Inimah",
        "slug": "getrude-musuruve-inimah"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Speaker Sir, Article 43 of the Constitution is about the socio- economic rights. One of them is ensuring that there is food security. The Article also provides that a person is entitled to clean and safe water in good quantities. Climate change affects Kenyans in many ways. In some areas, people and their families are displaced because of floods as a result of climate change. They have to look for a place to stay, which is something that we cannot ignore, as a country. When I watched the television, I saw children carrying mattresses, beds, chairs and items relocating to a place they did not know. That was painful. Therefore, climate change brings problems to families, and we need to address it, as a country. Mr. Temporary Speaker Sir, I condole with the families that lost their loved ones in West Pokot as a result of the floods. We have floods as a result of climate change. We may not expect hurricanes here, but climate change affects families and farmers negatively. There is a time when farmers got the impression that it was going to rain. They prepared their lands, just like committed farmers would, but it only rained once. Consequently, the seedlings did not sprout and the farmers did not get a bumper harvest. This led to scarcity of food. Mr. Temporary Speaker Sir, there is need for this country to ensure that information is disseminated to farmers; that way, they will know when to expect drought. They should know of different methods of irrigation so that they irrigate their lands. When there is drought, the poor are the most affected. This is because they do not have mechanisms or money to irrigate their land. There is need for county governments to have a conversation and ensure that they prepare for such eventualities. Where there are floods in the counties, county governments should act swiftly and help the farmers and Kenyans, because we do not want Kenyans to die of hunger. Mr. Temporary Speaker Sir, we live at a time when we are talking about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We aim to achieve zero tolerance to poverty, and this cannot happen if we do not have a mechanism of ensuring that we prepare for such disasters. Climate change is a disaster which we should be prepared for, from the county level. Climate change is something that we cannot ignore, because floods will always occur. Therefore, there is need for county governments to put mechanisms in place. They should make drainages and set aside reasonable amounts of money to ensure that families are not affected in case of calamities. Mr. Temporary Speaker, when floods come, they retrogress families, because they are an economic minus to families. Many families lose their homes and relocate elsewhere when floods occur. Do we even think about school-going children from areas affected by floods? That is a conversation that we need to have. If other children go to school and children who are hard-hit by these calamities do not go to school, that affects them because when others are learning, they are not learning. That affects their performance, and we know very well the impact of education on people. Therefore, there is need for us to engage and see how exactly we can help the county governments and the common mwananchi, because the poor are the ones who suffer the most and they have nowhere to go."
}