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{
    "id": 1516334,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1516334/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 233,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Omogeni",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13219,
        "legal_name": "Erick Okong'o Mogeni",
        "slug": "erick-okongo-mogeni"
    },
    "content": "to a friend's place and a branch of a tree fell. I asked him why he could not chop the tree. He said that for you to cut any tree, you must make an application to the local authority. They will undertake public participation before you are allowed to cut that tree. That is how seriously some countries take the issue of cutting trees. So, what has been proposed here is actually not radical. I wish Sen. Abdul Haji could go a step further and provide for public participation before cutting a tree. If you drive along UN Avenue, past the UN Headquarters, going to Runda, and as you drive from Limuru Road, you will see that there has been a sustained effort of cutting trees. The beauty that used to be there is long gone. Madam Temporary Speaker, I do not think the person doing that exercise went through a rigorous process before he was given permission to cut those trees. I wish we could improve this Bill to allow real public participation before anybody is allowed to cut trees within our urban centres. In fact, if I remember correctly, what that lawyer told me is in their public participation, you conduct a vote. You know, people who reside in that estate are invited to cast a vote and either answer in affirmation whether they support the cutting of that tree or not. You will be given a conditional permit that if you chop that tree, you must plant another one in replacement. So, those are the kind of laws that we need to incorporate here, Sen. Abdul Haji, because the target in this country is to plant 870 million trees to enable us to meet the constitutional threshold of 10 per cent tree cover in the country. If you leave it to our governors and we do not put in place stringent laws that can discourage the cutting of trees, we will wake up and find that instead of increasing our tree cover, we will be reducing it. I like the idea of ensuring that we have seedlings that nurture trees that are friendly to us. Sen. Onyonka's county of Kisii and Nyamira is one of the regions most adversely affected by this. I do not know who introduced these blue gums to our region. Madam Temporary Speaker, you are lucky that you had Prof. Wangari Mathai where you come from. She discouraged the planting of blue gum trees. In my county of Nyamira, most of our streams have dried up. People trek long distances to look for a river where they can fetch water because they were never properly guided. We planted gum trees very close to our river banks. We now have severe water scarcity in Kisii and Nyamira counties. The idea of ensuring that the seedlings that our county governments put up contain seedlings that are friendly to our environment is so important. I wish you could strengthen that and include some research. Before you are allowed to set up a seedling, some research should have been undertaken so that we plant trees that are friendly to our environment. Everything is about sustainable management of our environment for future generations, those who will be living after us in the next 100 years. What will they find? What did we leave behind? If you leave a country that has no water, you will be creating a situation where war will break out. River Nile here serves nine countries, including Egypt and Sudan. There is a clause in the agreement that if you do anything that endangers the River Nile, it can be grounds for war. I support this Bill. Let us see how we can enhance the offences that you have created so that people are conscious that we are really serious as a country about 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."
}