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{
    "id": 126482,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/126482/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 517,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I support the recommendations contained in this Report to the direction that all those holding title deeds ought to be compensated. I am talking of those holding title deeds issued by the Government and those who were genuinely allocated as squatters. Those who grabbed land knowingly should not be compensated. There is a third category which is not included in this Report but who should be compensated. Those are squatters who are on the land. Genuine squatters are Kenyans. They cannot disappear into thin air. So, when they get out of the Mau Forest, the Government needs to take adequate measures on where to relocate them. It is not just about the Mau Forest, this Government lacks a policy on social justice. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, any Kenyan who is destitute and has nowhere to go should never be moved to a roadside, whether it is from the informal settlements, Mau or the internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps. Some of the people who are still in IDP camps are squatters who have no land to return to. We, therefore, do not need ad hoc decisions. We need a policy on social justice which will guide the Government any time it needs to relocate Kenyans who have no alternative places to go. I am, therefore, suggesting to the Government – and it should be obvious to them - that in order to make the Mau available for tree replanting in the October season when we expect the rains, they should provide alternative land where those who genuinely have nowhere else to go should relocate to, even if temporarily, pending the Government’s permanent resolution of the matter. I want to state categorically that the Government has to show that it is not now playing politics with the Mau and that, it is serious to act by taking measures that will help resolve this issue once and for all. It is also presumed, in all the actions that the Government takes, that the Government is guided by the rule of law as set out in the Constitution and our laws. Any individual who feels aggrieved by the Government action has a legal recourse. He or she can always go to a court of law and justify his or her case. I believe, as hon. Members, we should give way to the saving of the Mau, knowing that even if we replant the trees in the coming rainy season in October, it will take us not less than four years of hard work to start reversing the negative effects of the deforestation that has taken place. Finally, the Government should take action to save all the water towers; namely, the Mau, the Aberdares, Mount Kenya and others. As I speak now, there are loggers in all our water towers. Some of them enter legitimately with letters from the Forestry Department to harvest the plantations. But, in the course of those with legitimate papers entering the forests, other loggers enter and all the forests are in need of rehabilitation. We are asking that measures be taken and that the work of replanting be given to our"
}