A House team has approved a proposal law setting a Sh1 million fine for persons found guilty of causing panic by sending a false alarm about an emergency or a warning about a disaster.
The National Disaster Risk Management Bill 2023 provides that, “A person who makes or circulates a false alarm knowingly or warning as to a disaster or its severity or magnitude leading to panic, commits an offence.”
It says that upon conviction, such a person would be “liable to a fine not exceeding Sh1m or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both.”
The National Assembly Regional Development Committee has retained the clause in the state-sponsored legislation moved by Leader of Majority Kimani Ichung’wah.
“The committee, having considered the Bill clause by clause, and submissions from stakeholders, recommends that the House approves the Bill with amendments as proposed in the schedule,” the Sigor MP Peter Lochakapong-led committee said in a report on the bill.
In the amendments, MPs have saved jobs for National Disaster Management Unit staffers, who face a shake-up should MPs pass the proposed law.
The bill creates a National Disaster Risk Management Authority to coordinate and…
