Prof. Margaret Kamar

All parliamentary appearances

Entries 1411 to 1420 of 3046.

• 30 Mar 2011 in National Assembly: On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. view
• 30 Mar 2011 in National Assembly: On a point of information, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. view
• 29 Mar 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, following a Question that was raised by the Member of Parliament of Juja, hon. William Kabogo, to my Ministry on issues of quarrying in Thika, a site visit was undertaken on 10th February, 2011 by myself, accompanied by officers from the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and local leaders, led by the area Member of Parliament, hon. Kabogo. view
• 29 Mar 2011 in National Assembly: We visited the quarries in question, the first ones being the King’s Rock Works and Mucathlia(?) Company at Katuanyaga Village, where environmental issues were raised. We observed that the environmental impact assessment that had been done was not adhered to properly in the following five areas:- (i) mitigation of dust through either fencing with dust arrestors or sprinkling of water; (ii) mitigation of noise and vibration; (iii) observance of a working period of 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m., had been broken, because the works were going on even in the night; (iv) occupation safety and health of the workers was ... view
• 29 Mar 2011 in National Assembly: So, what the Member of Parliament had observed was correct. Mr. Speaker, Sir, our recommendation was that we must stop immediately all quarrying activities until these conditions are adhered to, which is exactly what we did. So, we have given a stop order to the two quarry owners on site. The quarries will only be activated after NEMA inspectors accept that compliance on those quarries has been achieved. view
• 29 Mar 2011 in National Assembly: We also visited a series of quarries called “Nyakaba Quarries”. This is a series of quarries in the same village, some having been abandoned a long time ago, while others were still active and fresh. Some of the issues of concern we observed were that some of the quarrying activities going on were very close to buildings, thus endangering the lives of people. We also observed that a good number of the abandoned quarries had not been refilled despite the fact that some of them were abandoned more than three years ago. view
• 29 Mar 2011 in National Assembly: So, again, we recommended that inspection must be done by NEMA officers on all the quarries in Thika, and that necessary enforcement of the law must be undertaken. We said that we needed a thorough investigation because some of the quarries had been abandoned and their owners are not known. However, we know that from our archives and documentation, it is possible to ascertain their identities and hold them responsible for the refilling of those quarries as per the law. Therefore, for that reason, I instructed the NEMA at that time to do the inspection and, in due course, we ... view
• 29 Mar 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, I hereby table the report for the two quarries. view
• 29 Mar 2011 in National Assembly: Mr. Speaker, Sir, the number of quarries is actually very big. They are in hundreds. Already, the book work is being done. Our officers want to ascertain who did what and when, so that they can be able to pin the actual owners of the abandoned quarries. Some of the quarries date as early as five years ago, but there is no back-filling. So, the truth is that whoever operated and abandoned a quarry must take responsibility and back-fill it. view
• 29 Mar 2011 in National Assembly: Regarding the issue of timeframe, I would like to only say that I can report back on the progress in a month’s time. If there will be anything I can report on any action taken by then, I will do so. However, the exercise is going to take some time because an entire area of more than two square kilometres is infested with quarries which have not been refilled. So, we should be able to take time and carefully get that land back, because it is very dangerous to have unfilled up quarries. So, that is the timeframe not only ... view