By Henry Neondo
The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) is concerned with the speed with which the Kenya Climate Change Working group is moving towards coming up with a Bill that will regulate mitigation and adapt to climate change.
Alfred Khangati, Assistant Minister in the OPM said at a technical workshop on the climate change Bill in Mombasa that the working group needs to move with speed given that the Parliament has close to 40 other Bills that ought to be handled before the expiry of the 10th Parliament.
Over the last year, the Kenya Climate Change Working Group that brings together civil society, the government, communities, private sector, development partners, research and academic institutions have engaged in a variety of forums throughout the provinces and exchanged views on environment and climate change.
The process aimed to develop an enabling policy framework for climate change actions in Kenya; and an appropriate regulatory framework to enhance implementation.
These engagements led to the draft Climate Change Bill which is however yet to be owned by the government.
The climate change Bill is however contested by some participants who see it as duplication of roles between the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources who are equally developing a Bill on Environment.
Those from the Ministry of Lands have also picked up issues on some sections on land as the Ministry is also developing a land use policy that may be in conflict with the provisions in the climate change Bill.
Khangati told participants in Mombasa that there was need to speed up the harmonization and coordination of these initiatives through a variety of means that will then hasten the process towards getting the climate change Bill.
The Mombasa workshop which brings scientists and lawyers together, aims to facilitate focused discussions on the structure and substance of the draft bill and is hoped to facilitate interaction and eventually come up with a national roadmap towards presentation to the Parliament.
The meeting is organised by the Office of the Prime Minister, the Kenya Climate Change Working Group, with support from TROCAIRE and CHRISTIAN AID.