Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1517351,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1517351/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 271,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sifuna",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13599,
        "legal_name": "Sifuna Edwin Watenya",
        "slug": "sifuna-edwin-watenya"
    },
    "content": "in 2010, I was working for a billboard company here in Nairobi. Part of my duty was to plant trees. As hon. John Gakuo had said, the biggest enemy of trees in Nairobi were people who were running the billboard business. The company that I used to work for decided that they were going to take initiative in making sure that if there is any tree that is affected because of a billboard, we would plant at least 100 seedlings to replace that one tree. Since I was the head of administration then, I was in charge of that programme. Believe it or not, in my suit as an advocate, I used to know all the suppliers of tree seedlings in Nairobi from the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) because they had a nursery along Kiambu Road. I also knew all the people who sell trees along Ngong Road. All those people were my friends. I used to have suppliers of manure and red soil in Wangige who I knew by name. We used to do tree-planting sponsored by that company. You can see that since we have let go of the rules of the City, there is a serious proliferation of billboards in Nairobi and nobody does tree-planting anymore. We hope that this particular amendment to the law will bring about some sanity and make sure that we return the City to the dream that hon. John Gakuo had, even if he was met ignominious end. I want to be on record supporting this amendment Bill. On behalf of the people of Nairobi, we must return this City to the people. For those facilities that were taken over by the military, it is now long overdue. We do not have to summon the Cabinet Secretary for Defence to this House for him to again make promises. We just want the people of Nairobi to have access to Central Park, Uhuru Park and Uhuru Gardens. Lastly, I have made it clear that I have a problem with the way this Government communicates. A few months ago, we were all shocked when we started seeing videos on social media of tree-cutting that was allegedly going on in Karura Forest. We were all alarmed, only for the KFS to follow up after the outrage with a communication claiming that they were harvesting mature trees. If the Government or the KFS intends to harvest trees in any of our forested areas in Nairobi, they need to communicate to us what is going to happen. They should not wait for social media outrage then follow up with a communication that it is harvesting of mature trees that is going on. Besides, they have not told us any plans to replace that deforestation that happened. We were also very alarmed. One day we just woke up and when we were driving on the Southern Bypass, you could find a whole section of a forest there cleared and nobody gives any explanation. Thereafter, you could hear that there was somebody building a golf resort. Why are these things done in the manner in which they are done? If the Government intends to run such a programme, I want them to change the way they communicate with the public. Make it clear that in the next six months, we want to undertake a certain programme and that this is going to be the environmental effect for"
}