National Assembly departmental committee on Environment, Forestry and Mining, in conjunction with Senate Standing Committee on Lands, Environment and Natural Resources, on Tuesday, vetted four presidential nominees for appointment as National Climate Change Council members.
The four, Ms. Emily Mwende Waita, Mr. John Kioli, Ms. Umar Omar and Prof. George Odera Outa, appeared before the two committees to defend their suitability for the appointment.
Ms. Waita, the first to be questioned on her suitability, told the Committees co-chaired by MP David Gikaria and Senator Johnes Mwaruma that she was ready to tackle rampant issues emerging from climate change by ensuring that resources allocated to the council are used in a manner beneficial to Kenyans.
"As a member of climate change council I will ensure that there is tracking of utilization of funds through accounting and report back to Kenyans with clear results of what was achieved," Ms. Waita disclosed.
According to Ms. Waita, National Climate Change Council is critical to institutionalizing climate change policies nationally and at the county level.
The second nominee to be vetted was Mr. Kioli, who stated that once appointed, he will ensure that climate change is taught from the elementary school level upwards to create connectivity from an early age.
"Committee under Ministry of Education need to look at curriculum structure especially that Competence Based Curriculum (CBC) is in place and ensure that it integrates climate change and see all students embrace it from elementary level," he said.
Ms. Omar and Prof. Outa were the third and final nominees to submit before the vetting committees.
Like their fellow nominees, they convinced the members on their suitability for the positions, disclosing that National Climate Change Council's roles are to give policy directions at the national and county levels.
The nominees further disclosed that their mandate as a council is to handle the National Climate action plan and to administer the climate change fund.
The joint vetting committees now retreat to write their reports on the nominees' eligibility to be appointed to the council.
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