{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=136965","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=136963","results":[{"id":1386051,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386051/?format=json","text_counter":309,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Omboko Milemba","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":13328,"legal_name":"Jeremiah Omboko Milemba","slug":"jeremiah-omboko-milemba"},"content":" Hon. Millie Odhiambo. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"},{"id":1386052,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386052/?format=json","text_counter":310,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Suba North, ODM","speaker_title":"Hon. Millie Odhiambo-Mabona","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity. I wish to indicate that I support this Bill with amendments, because it seeks to consolidate RDAs into one Bill. I wish the sponsor and drafters had given it some legislative elegance because I see a lot of repetition. You find the same roles given to various authorities are almost cut and paste. There is really no reason in a digitised and progressive world, why we should go that way while doing this Bill. Therefore, I will be proposing amendments that will make it leaner and thinner. Going into more substantive issues, I am very happy with the principles enshrined in this Bill. Some of them include sustainable use of resources. As a person who is committed to environmental conservation, the issue of sustainable use of resources is very important. For instance, if you look at the way some of us are using our resources, there is a challenge. It is unfortunate that a Bill on natural resources came up but it failed. That is one of the areas we need to look into. For example, a lot of road construction is going on in our counties and there are small hills which generate the materials that are needed to make the roads. Very soon, there will be no hills in those areas. This is actually part of what is causing climate change. It is significant and important to me that we deal with issues about the sustainable use of resources. Also, on the issue of promotion of equity in the management of natural resources to ensure equitable access for present and future generations, as a person who is committed to protecting the rights of children, I am very keen on the use of, ‘access for present and future generations’, when we are dealing with resources. When this is provided as a value, it is important. The only challenge is that when we are implementing, we forget this. I had hoped for a bolder approach that also streamlines the roles, as I had indicated. That also ensures we do not have duplication with the national Government, counties and those authorities. Many Members have spoken to this, but one of the things I have learned having been in this Parliament for a long time is that when we have multiple bodies doing the same thing, one or all of them become cash cows. That is why even when Parliament tries to streamline, we get a lot of resistance because we will be killing somebody’s way of earning money. I wish we were bolder as a House and, sometimes, just take the bull by the horn, kill some of those authorities and give the counties greater mandate. However, because I know we are not bold as a House, I will propose amendments that will allow the ones who want to steal to steal. I am not the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). When the EACC wakes up and decides they want to do their job, they will follow-up and ensure that those people do their work and then they will streamline. One other thing that I hope to see is a deliberate attempt to establish a formula for sharing resources within the regions. When you find that one of the authorities is working within a region and yet, it has different regions to serve, how do you ensure that within that region there is equity? I support the inclusion of gender, the youth and the marginalised community in the management units of the bodies. I somehow agree with Hon. Baya and the Member who raised a point of order that we must remember marginalised communities. Coming from a marginalised community, I must speak to it. I know many people do not consider the Luo community as marginalised because of their resilience. They are strong. They work hard and fight hard and, therefore, they do not appear as a marginalised community. However, over the years, they have been marginalised by economic policies due to their nature of their politics as the Opposition. It is interesting that many of the people who keep telling them to join the Government are the very same people who tell them not join the Government because we need a strong Opposition. Kenyans must make up their minds on what they want. They should choose people who will do good work so that there is no need for an Opposition. If they choose people who cannot do a good job, they should not start screaming that they want a good Opposition. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"},{"id":1386053,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386053/?format=json","text_counter":311,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Suba North, ODM","speaker_title":"Hon. Millie Odhiambo-Mabona","speaker":null,"content":"Having said that, there are actually regions that have benefited from resources because of marginalisation. As a country, we must look at how different regions have benefited and whether all the regions are at the same stead. You may find that an area that was marginalised 20 years ago is no longer marginalised. My area is definitely still marginalised. I also speak for the Suba – a smaller community within my constituency – who may suffer further marginalisation. On that note, I want to urge the Government not to be making promises that it cannot realise very fast when it is dealing with marginalised communities like ours. For instance, the Government recently made a promise to tarmac the Rusinga Island Ring Road and those of us who are marginalised are waiting with a lot of interest to ensure it is done. Going back to the regional authorities, I agree with Hon. Murugara who talked last. We need a bold approach to fold up those bodies and give the money to counties with enhanced oversight roles, so that we do not devolve corruption. I want to reiterate that, that would have been a better approach. Again, I do not know whether it is the Mwongozo that talks about the number of members as eight. The individuals that are being proposed to be in those bodies are too many. Perhaps, we need to streamline that, especially for the local communities. I do not understand why we have eight as the number of those who are coming in. Even so, within that number of eight, we need to re-emphasise the issue of inclusion. One of the things that I have noticed is that this Bill speaks a lot about the issue of natural resources. I said that it was, indeed, unfortunate that the Bill that was talking about natural resources, especially on its sharing, died during the Second Reading. This Bill talks about natural resources without defining what a natural resource is. I do not know what exactly is being talked about in this Bill. We must ensure that we define what a natural resource is. I hope we will bring amendments. But since we are not bold enough to send those bodies home, we should ensure that they undertake programs and projects on climate change adaptation since they are doing programs that deal with that area. Those are the things that we ought to talk about as a country, but we do not seem to realise that. For instance, in the last few days in this country, the weather has been extremely hot - which is not typical. That has not been here alone. I was in South Africa two months ago, and there was a heat wave. We are actually suffering the effects of climate change and we only want to act on things that have money; where there could be a gain to the Government or to us. That is why many of us were supporting the Bill on climate change adaptation. There are low-hanging fruits that we can deal with at individual level, leadership level and at community level to ensure that we deal with those issues. I want to complete because I can see that my time is up. Can you just give me one minute to conclude?"},{"id":1386054,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386054/?format=json","text_counter":312,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Omboko Milemba","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":13328,"legal_name":"Jeremiah Omboko Milemba","slug":"jeremiah-omboko-milemba"},"content":" No! The interest is overwhelming."},{"id":1386055,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386055/?format=json","text_counter":313,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Suba North, ODM","speaker_title":"Hon. Millie Odhiambo-Mabona","speaker":null,"content":" It is okay. With those few remarks, I support the Bill with amendments."},{"id":1386056,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386056/?format=json","text_counter":314,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Omboko Milemba","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":13328,"legal_name":"Jeremiah Omboko Milemba","slug":"jeremiah-omboko-milemba"},"content":" Hon. Julius Melly."},{"id":1386057,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386057/?format=json","text_counter":315,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Tinderet, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Julius Melly","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I rise to support the Bill. As the earlier speaker, Hon. Millie has just said, I will also propose some amendments to the Bill. This Bill is quite good. First of all, I would like to tell Members that there is a history behind development authorities. Development authorities worldwide were fashioned to address certain geographical and climatic issues affecting certain regions within a particular nation. They were very successful in many parts of the world. Those of us who went to school earlier on when there was a different syllabus, we had the Tennessee Development Authority, Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC) in China and many others across the world. The Rwandese also have a very small development authority. The authorities are designed by governments to The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"},{"id":1386058,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386058/?format=json","text_counter":316,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Tinderet, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Julius Melly","speaker":null,"content":"make sure that certain bodies are formed to address certain problems that are peculiar to a particular region. I want to thank the Chair and the Committee for bringing all the development authorities under one law. Previously, we had different laws for different authorities. Right now, we will have them under one piece of legislation. It will be very easy for us to bring them to order. When you look at the Lake Basin Development Authority (LBDA), where my county Nandi falls, it covers Kisumu, Busia and all those other areas. The LBDA tries to address issues that are within the lake region. However, some of those development authorities have failed to address their core mandate over the years. In some instances, some of them went ahead and began to construct buildings in towns and yet, that is not their core mandate. Kerio Valley Development Authority (KVDA) has a huge building in Eldoret and the LBDA has a building in Kisumu. They were supposed to address agricultural issues like cotton in the lake basin, sorghum along the Kerio Valley, cattle and camel along the Ewaso Nyiro and issues of range development where livestock can be kept in some of the areas. It came to the notice of this Committee that most of the regional bodies were actually designed to address certain specific issues that were peculiar to their areas of operation. However, because of mismanagement by previous boards, institutions and chief executive officers (CEOs), many Members believe that those regional bodies are not necessary. That is not true. It is up to this House to sit down and develop a clear mandate for those authorities the way the Committee has done with the specific roles that they will play. Part of the mandate of the Kerio Valley Development Authority, the Lake Basin Development Authority and all those others was to make sure that farmers in their region get sufficient water. For example, the Lake Basin was supposed to drill boreholes for households, schools and institutions so as to ensure that waterborne diseases are eradicated. They were also supposed to offer educational services on proper cotton farming so that this country can be self-reliant in textile industry. This would create jobs. In the Kerio Valley, the Authority could promote sorghum and millet farming, build schools and make sure that there are dams to provide water for irrigation. That could stop the menace of cattle rustling, which is still going on. If those authorities were very effective, the issue of cattle rustling would be a thing of the past. Now you realised that they have invested huge resources in buildings in town which, in the first place, they were supposed to have used the resources to water the dams they have constructed. They should have encouraged the people who are engaged in cattle rustling, for example, to transition into sorghum farming, millet farming, maize farming and fruit farming. If you look at the Kerio Valley itself, it is rich in fruits. If we can go ahead and develop those ones, it could discourage the young men from raiding their neighbors. Those authorities are not doing that. That is why we are proposing that it should be illegal for those bodies to engage in activities that are not part of their mandate. Consider, for example, the Coast Development Authority. We have huge potential for livestock farming across the various counties in the Coast region. We have the Tana River, Taita Taveta, and many other regions in that area, including along the Ewaso Nyiro area. If those people are encouraged to engage in livestock farming, our country could once again become one of the top exporters of beef. One of the earlier speakers mentioned that Botswana is now one of the leading exporters of meat and yet, they once benchmarked with Kenya. Therefore, we need each development authority to clearly define the issues they are supposed to address. On the issue of leadership, I disagree with the previous speakers who suggested that those authorities should be managed by locals in their respective regions. We are one country, one nation and one people. What we need is expertise to run those authorities, not necessarily The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"},{"id":1386059,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386059/?format=json","text_counter":317,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Tinderet, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Julius Melly","speaker":null,"content":"individuals from the specific regions. It is possible to have a highly skilled expert and manager from the coastal region effectively managing the Lake Victoria Basin, for example. Hon. Temporary Speaker, it is unfortunate that the Deputy Leader of the Majority Party is trying to dismember the country by encouraging people from one region to lead those bodies. I want to guide the Deputy Leader of the Majority Party that this is one country, one people…"},{"id":1386060,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1386060/?format=json","text_counter":318,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Omboko Milemba","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":13328,"legal_name":"Jeremiah Omboko Milemba","slug":"jeremiah-omboko-milemba"},"content":" Order, Hon. Melly. Speak through the Chair."}]}