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{
    "id": 1271902,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1271902/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 27,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Soipan Tuya",
    "speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Forestry",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 926,
        "legal_name": "Roselinda Soipan Tuya",
        "slug": "roselinda-soipan-tuya"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Speaker, Sir, and former colleagues for this opportunity. The length of the document in your possession is in anticipation of any supplementary issues that may arise. However, my response is quite brief and I will keep it as such. Mr. Speaker, Sir, at the onset, the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry that I head is aware and alive to the fact that matters of environmental conservation are very critical to this country. However, on the same breath, there are certain Government projects that may have to, at some instances, conflict with the environmental conservation efforts. Therefore, the Ministry is mandated to strike a balance between these two critical aspects of development in our country. The first Question is in the form of the proverbial response to a mosquito bite with a hammer. Allow me to say. I will be demonstrating that indeed, the response by the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) and the Ministry to this issue has been apt. Therefore, the question of failure or refusal should not arise. The subject of discussion is a project proposed within the Kathandeni Forest, which is part of the Mount Kenya Forest ecosystem within Kirinyaga County. The scope of the project is that the Government, through the Tana Waterworks Agency, is proposing to improve the Ngariama-Njukiini Water Project through construction of a new intake along a tributary of River Nyamindi. Mr. Speaker, Sir, when you look at its nature, it is a noble project to ensure the provision of water access to the people of Kirinyaga County at a devolved level. The request from the proponent is to have an access road, which will involve bush clearance for a distance of 2.6 kilometres along the forest road. The engagement that we have had with the project proponent is that, in February 2023, there was a stakeholder engagement forum, which the KFS was represented by the county forest conservator. Thereafter, the proponent initiated the mandatory Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study and hydrological assessment for submission to National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and the Water Resources Authority (WRA) for processing and approval. Since the project is located inside a closed indigenous forest within Mount Kenya Ecosystem, there are a number of critical due diligence activities that have to precede the okaying of such a project. Some of the conditions laid out by the KFS, which are the due process are in the form of mitigation, so that as we allow for construction works to go on within protected areas, we must also ensure that the environmental conservation aspect is not lost."
}