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{
    "id": 1495983,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1495983/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 368,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Baringo County, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Jematiah Sergon",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "eucalyptus and provide similar benefits. Hon. Mayaka has given us excellent examples such as the bamboo tree, which acts as a water reservoir. It collects and stores water during the rainy season. It has extensive fibrous roots, and is valuable for furniture, carpentry and construction. The bamboo tree is an ideal replacement that can be planted along waterways and rivers to help restore life. We cannot do much without water, as water is essential for all of us. As the Government of the day, our President has urged us to plant trees, with a target of up to 10 billion trees in the next five years. However, we cannot proceed with that initiative as long as the eucalyptus tree exists. We plant trees to encourage more rainfall, but with the eucalyptus trees present, the very water we are trying to attract through rainfall will be depleted. This is one of the best Bills. It is progressive and will benefit us in many ways. Lastly, I keenly listened to what an Hon. Member said, that a eucalyptus tree can take up to 90 litres of water per day in wet conditions and 40 litres per day in dry conditions. This is very serious. We should eliminate it fast like they did in Portugal. One day, they went into the forest and cut down all the eucalyptus trees. It will also be good for this country to adopt a very radical, purposeful and intended resolution of ensuring that eucalyptus trees are no longer planted, especially in the highland areas. In you go to Kericho and Bomet where they plant a lot of tea, you will see eucalyptus trees along the river banks. In those areas, it rains every day and yet, people do not have water. In Nandi, if you sink a borehole, you will not get water because the water table is too low. The eucalyptus trees have highly contributed to that. It is good that we have identified the problem. I urge the ministry to solve it so that we can preserve our water towers and reservoirs. When Hon. Soipan was the Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, we went to plant trees in Nyandarua. A lake had dried up because the eucalyptus trees had been planted around it. That tree has been tested and proven to give a lot of negative response to the environment. Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. With that, I support."
}