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{
    "id": 1223608,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1223608/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 125,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Onyonka",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13592,
        "legal_name": "Onyonka Richard Momoima",
        "slug": "onyonka-richard-momoima"
    },
    "content": "effective and have the communities understand that even when trees provide a source of income, it is also important for them to be given an alternative as to what they can plant other than trees that they make revenue out of. I can see the Senator for Nakuru County. If you travel to Naivasha, when you are at Kinungi all the way down past Delamere Farm up to Gilgil--- One man who probably no one would remember planted trees in that place. If you look on the left and the right side as you go down from Naivasha, there are some trees there. I do not know whether Kenyans know that the man who planted them was Karuiki Chotara. When he was planting those trees, everybody was laughing and saying that he had probably gone crazy. They were wondering how he decided to plant the trees there. Out of the many things that the late President Moi did that were good, he was given credit because he was an environmentalist. He is the one who encouraged Kariuki Chotara, Paul Ngei and all the older generations of politicians to plant trees in their areas. These are examples that we as a leadership can emulate. Thirdly, my honest observation is that in Kenya, we have not done a proper audit to know which trees we need to plant in certain areas. We need to know how long some of the trees take to grow and figure out what we are going to do. The reason is very simple. Our spatial plans which we are supposed to have in every area whether it is every county or sub-county are not available. When we are looking at the policies on how we are going to improve the standards of our environmental development, growth, and management, we must look at the policy issues so that we can approach our issues on global warming and environmental development in a comprehensive approach. This approach is to make sure that we look at everything. We take the region and agree on what to do. Certain areas such as Eastern and North Eastern Kenya are very dry. Using River Tana and all the rivers that we have, I do not understand why we never plant trees and use irrigation. We only talk about growing maize through irrigation. If look in our televisions, we will see this company drilling of water boreholes and everything. In some areas in Laikipia, Kajiado they are encouraging farmers to now grow trees because trees act as wind covers. Sometimes the wind blows off the sand and the soil. I encourage the team that is coming to engage this House. The Senate is a House that takes care of the counties. It has the interests of counties at heart. Let us have a blueprint that interfaces with the National Assembly so that we can then come up with a strategy on how we can encourage our county governments facilitate them and give them funding because we participate in that exercise. This is so that the national Government does not come from Nairobi where the President will come and plant either 20 or 30 trees for one event which is taking place. After he leaves, nothing happens. If you ask me today who the forest officer in Kisii County is, I do not even know. The forest office does not have the profile. Nobody has exposed them to us. I do not even think that the Governor of Kisii or even the Members of the County Assembly"
}