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{
    "id": 126597,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/126597/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 632,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Wetangula",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Foreign Affairs",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 210,
        "legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
        "slug": "moses-wetangula"
    },
    "content": " I will come to that! Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, can you restrain Mr. Ruto from interjecting in my contributions? When you look at what we have done to our environment since Independence, at Independence we had 12 per cent forest cover in this country; today, we have only 1.7 per cent. It is diminishing even more. It is like we are at war with our own country. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, when you talk about what must be done with those who invaded the Mau Forest Complex, I agree that buyers for value without notice can be compensated. I agree that the poor of the poor who went to the Mau Forest Complex to get an acre or half an acre should be resettled elsewhere. Even if they are not compensated by monetary terms, they should be found alternative settlement. However, we also have people who have abused their offices. We have people who have grabbed public land. We have people who have grabbed forests. I do think these are a category of people who should fall within the category of taking public resources and we should not reward them for wrong doing. Persons in positions of responsibility, persons who have used their offices for self gain, persons who have gone and excised the forest and awarded themselves hundreds of acres of land, persons who have made money out of the illegal occupation of the Mau Forest Complex do not deserve any compensation whatsoever. I think this Parliament should make it very clear that we are not going to rubber-stamp and reward wrong doing. There is the untold story of the damage done; not just for Mau Forest Complex, but many other parts of the country. When you look at the destruction of the Mau Forest Complex, the wonder that is the Maasai Mara Game Park is gone; the tea industry that has been the hallmark of our economy is under threat the generation of power at the"
}