After 5 years of grappling with formulation of the Climate Change Policy and Bill, Kenyans now have a reason to be optimistic. At a recent stakeholders workshop on the Climate Change Bill, Principle Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Water and Natural Resources (MEWNR), Mr. Lesiyampe declared that “This time we are determined not to repeat the same mistakes that led to the former President refusing to assent to the Climate Change Bill 2012”, - a commitment shared by the MEWNR, members of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural resources and the National Environment Steering Committee (NESC). All interested parties are now being called upon to give their input before the bill is re-tabled in parliament.
Spearheaded by the MEWNR, the bill is being sponsored in Parliament by the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture and Natural resources’ Chairperson Hon. Amina Abdalla. "Kenya is the only country in Africa that is spearheading issues of climate change by initiating this vital Climate Change Bill," said Hon. Ottichilo, Chairman of the informal caucus, the Parliamentary Network on Renewable Energy and Climate Change (PANERECC). The aim is to have the bill assented to in six months time.
Among key provisions in the bill is the establishment of a Climate Change Council which shall be an independent and autonomous body and shall draw members from key government sectors, civil society organizations, private sector and representative from communities. How these members will be selected remains a conundrum to solve. The council shall be attached to the Office of the Deputy President (Chair of the Council) and shall be the sole policy-making body of the government tasked to coordinate, monitor and evaluate the programs and action plans of the government. “Climate change is a developmental issue rather than an environmental one and hence the reason for the consideration of it sitting at a higher level in Presidency” explained Mr. Lesiyampe. The proposed Council will also advise the national and county governments on measures necessary for climate change mitigation and adapting to the effects of unavoidable climate change. It will also guide implementation of regional and international conventions to which Kenya is party to and report regularly on the country’s adherence to its international obligations relating to climate change.
In developing the country’s Climate Change Action Plan by the MEWNR, the Legal Preparedness Assessment Report (LPAR) highlights 91 different laws and policies that are addressing issues of climate change. One critical role for the Council would be to address some of the incoherences in these laws and policies by ensuring coordination to attain goals set in the framework strategy and action plan. The Heinrich Böll Stiftung through the study, “Towards a Coherent and Cost Effective Policy Response to Climate Change In Kenya” is attempting to highlight some of these key incoherences.
Under the draft Bill, a climate change fund will be established to fund the activities of the council as well as programmes to be recommended by it. Many of the stakeholders in the meeting felt the Council should not have the mandate to issues penalties for the environmental offenders as that will be subverting or duplicating what the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) is doing under the Environmental Management and Coordination Act (EMCA) and the Council may not have the powers or capacity to do so.
The policy and the bill recognizes the importance of gender differentiated policy measures. Also youth deserve a targeted strategy. However, the commitment to “gender mainstreaming” at all levels needs to be clearly defined in order to ensure that the concerns and experiences of women as well as those of men are an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of Climate Change policies and programs and that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated.