Publication: Kenya’s Water Act (2016) : real devolution or simply the ‘same script, different cast’
Date
2019
Authors
Gachenga, Elizabeth
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG
Abstract
The debate surrounding the enactment of Kenya’s Water Act (2016) and its relationship with its predecessor, the Water Act (2002), brings to mind the lyrics of a contemporary pop duet, ‘Same script, different cast’. As the jilted girl attempts to forewarn
the current girl of the hurtful ways of her former boyfriend, the latter resists arguing he has changed. To persuade the impressionable new girl to see beyond the façade of the apparent change, the ex-girlfriend uses the expression ‘same script, different cast’ repeatedly, to demonstrate that all that has changed is the actors. In a bid to align the Water Act (2002) with the Constitution of Kenya (2010) (Constitution) and particularly to achieve the devolution enshrined in the Constitution, the Water Act 2016 was enacted following a long drawn out process beginning with the first draft Water Bill of 2012. Despite the amendments brought about by the new Act, critics argue that the Water Act (2016) is at most a superficial modification of the Water Act (2002) albeit with renamed institutions, thus evoking the parallel with the song.
Description
Book chapter in Patricia Kameri-Mbote, Alexander Paterson, Oliver C. Ruppel, Bibobra Bello Orubebe, Emmanuel D. Kam Yogo (Ed.) Law | Environment | Africa, page 429 - 452. A Publication of the 5th Symposium | 4th Scientific Conference | 2018 of the Association of Environmental Law Lecturers from African Universities in cooperation with the Climate Policy and Energy Security Programme for Sub-Saharan Africa of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
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Citation
Gachenga, E. (2019). Kenya’s Water Act (2016): real devolution or simply the ‘same script, different cast.’ In Law | Environment | Africa (pp. 429–452). Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG.