GET /api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1516333/?format=api
HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 1516333,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1516333/?format=api",
"text_counter": 232,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13219,
"legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
"slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
},
"content": "Thank you, Madam Temporary Speaker, for allowing me to also contribute to the Environment Laws (Amendment) Bill (Senate Bills No. 23 of 2024) that has been sponsored by my good friend Sen. Haji. In the era that we are living in, we all know what is posed by climate change, especially the careless cutting of trees. What is occupying the attention of many governments now is the idea of protecting our environment and ensuring that our countries have good forest cover so that we have sustainable management of our forests. So, I want to thank Senator Haji for coming up with this Bill that introduces some punitive measures and also wants to guide our county governments on the steps they need to put in place to ensure that we attain a good forest cover. Sen. Haji, this did not start just with you. If you read our 2010 Constitution, it prescribes that as a country, we need to attain a 10 per cent tree cover of the entire country. What you are doing is trying to align these laws to the spirit and the intention of the 2010 Constitution. I am fairly impressed with the ideas that you have incorporated in this Bill. Some of us who were in primary school during the tenure of President arap Moi saw a sustained campaign by the late President Moi to plant trees, even on road reserves. When I was in Class Five, we travelled from Nyamira to Kericho and were stopped in a town called Kapkatet. I am sure Sen. Joyce knows that place. The then District Commissioners (DCs) were implementing a decree that had been issued by President Moi. Any public vehicle using that route and I believe in other public roads, was stopped. You stepped out of the vehicle and you planted a tree before you proceeded. President Moi wanted to achieve an environment similar to what we saw in the United States of America (USA). If you drive in the USA, on both sides of the road, it is basically a forest. This is what President Moi wanted to see in this country. Up to date, if you travel between Sotik and Kericho, you will see a tree cover on the road reserve. That is an effort that President Moi spearheaded. Even the idea of soil erosion. What we forget is that afforestation contributes a great deal to ensuring that deforestation and soil erosion do not take place. President Moi did a fantastic job, only that, as Kenyans, we did not follow or take it seriously. I am sure if we had taken President Moi's efforts seriously by now, we would have maybe more than 10 per cent tree cover in our country. Let us also applaud the work done by the late Professor Wangari Mathaai. When people wanted to grab Karura Forest, I was serving as the Chair of the Ethics and Anti- Corruption Commission (EACC). There were powerful people in the Government who wanted to grab Karura Forest. That beautiful tree cover you see in Gigiri near the United Nations Headquarters was at risk of being grabbed. Working jointly with the late Prof. Wangari Mathai, we filed many cases in court and we managed to cancel title deeds that had been issued to private individuals. Sen. Abdul Haji, the effort that you are doing today resonates well with our champions of environmental conservation that have lived in the past years. I would like you even to go a step further and borrow from what happens in some countries in the West. I remember when I was the chairman of the Law Society, I visited Australia. I went The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}