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{
    "id": 969431,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/969431/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 507,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suna East, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Junet Nuh",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2840,
        "legal_name": "Junet Sheikh Nuh",
        "slug": "junet-sheikh-nuh"
    },
    "content": " That place is flooded. I do not want to come from Kisumu at this point in time. That place is flooding. Thank you for giving me an opportunity, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. First, I want to also send my condolences to the family of Kenyans who have lost lives in the floods. It is very disheartening to see people who have been sleeping at night, landslides happen and then they are buried in the sand. It is a very painful death. I would like to send my condolences, heartfelt condolences, to those families that have gone through that traumatizing period in this country at this moment in time. We have, as a country, to interrogate how we respond to disasters. I thought, under the new Constitution - and this is what I said a few days ago when a disaster happened in the West Pokot County - we cannot do things the same way all the time and expect different results. We as a country are used to situations where disasters happen in very far areas of the country and expect response to come from Nairobi. You know very well this country has devolution which is supposed to be working. The first line of rescue should come from the county governments. Even the National Government Constituencies Development Fund (NG-CDF) has contingencies. It has some funds that are meant for emergency if it occurs in the constituency. A roof may be blown off at a school, by wind, or some disaster could happen. They respond. It is very little money. I think it is around Kshs4 million or Kshs5 million per year. I have seen a situation where counties do not have any emergency funds. Disasters happen in the area and they can do nothing about it. Surely, they receive a lot of money every financial year. It is not like the NG-CDF. They receive billions of shillings. You will see drought and famine happening in some counties and you see people dying and there is a county government that exists in that area. They carry the name of “Government”, national Government or a county government. A Government should operate better than that. A disaster happens and the only thing you hear the county government saying is: “We need help. Can people from Nairobi come?” Now, how long will it take somebody from Nairobi to reach there to rescue a life? It might take him or her days. It is because disaster is something that requires very fast response. So, it really bothers me that, in this era, when devolution is almost 10 years old in this country, we are still operating in the same way and manner we did when we did not have devolution in this country. The other day, I saw some Members accusing the Government. They were saying: “Why has national Government not gone there?” I saw some characters going to West Pokot and taking selfies with dead bodies saying: “We are from the national Government and we have come to rescue you. We have come to help you.” It does not work that way. It is even better to send money from the national Government to the county governments so that they can respond to that disaster. You do not even need a CS, a PS or anybody to go there. Just wire the money to the county governments and tell them to respond to a disaster. What are you going there to do? Is it to see dead bodies and to fly in a chopper? I want to conclude by saying: If we continue responding to disasters as we normally do as a country, we will continue losing lives. I can guarantee you that. Now, this country must come up with a proper policy on how they want to address disasters. Especially, we must empower the"
}