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"id": 179810,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. C. Kilonzo",
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"legal_name": "Charles Mutavi Kilonzo",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I wish to support this Motion. I had an opportunity to fly over the Mau Forest many times. The Mau Forest is a test to this Government. It is a test to this Grand Coalition Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, a while ago, the Prime Minister, himself, was on record and said that by 30th October, nobody will be settling within Mau Forest. The only thing we forgot to ask the Prime Minister was whether he meant this year, next year or which year. The truth is that nothing has been done. In fact, more people are moving into Mau Forest. You wonder: Do we have a Government? If I was put in that position, that is a very small problem. There are laws already existing to deal with the Mau Forest. We saw the Government move on Thika Road with an iron fist. It was able to move people from the road reserves. We are not saying that we move people from Mau Forest with an iron fist. There are laws such as the Compulsory Land Acquisition Act, which provides guidelines on how you can move people away. There are people with title deeds in that forest. They are rich fellows with huge chunks of land. If the Government went there with money and enforced the Compulsory Land Acquisition Act, the prices are over and above the value of land. They will be paid what is called open market value of the land. There will be perseverance, damages, hinderance and many other things. At the end of the day, the amount they are paid--- You will even get somebody within the border of the forest wanting to dispose his land. But what does the Prime Minister and Government do? They play politics. The Prime Minister feels that if he goes ahead with the eviction of people from the Mau Forest, he will lose his party support. The Government on the other side feels that, if it does not act, it would get the support of those people. Is that the Government we are talking about? If I was put in that position today, there will be nobody in Mau Forest. The people will move very happily. That is because I will pay them very good money. The Government has the money. An amount of Kshs4 billion is nothing for this Government. We can keep on talking but the Grand Coalition Government, if it does not stop settlement on the Mau Forest, is wasting our time. We know that it will not go anywhere. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if a simple Ministry of Roads can move on Thika--- Although we do not support that because it moved without a human face. All they need to do is to put a human face. But they are able to repossess land. Why could the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources and the Prime Minister not be very firm? We will support him. There is no Motion of no confidence which will pass. All he needs to do is go to the Mau Forest and talk to the November 12, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3401 Members of Parliament from that area. Members of Parliament have no problem. He should compensate those people. Do not say you can only compensate the ones with title deeds. If a squatter has been there for many year, give him some incentives to move out. They will move out. Why are we wasting time? Go to Cherangani Hills. There is destruction going on there. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, my good friend hon. Muthama from Kangundo knows that, that area, in 17th and 18th Century, was like Mau Forest and Cherangani Hills, until we, Kambas, moved and settled there. That is why we always talk about famine in Ukambani. In 100 years to come, we will be talking about famine in the Rift Valley Province. So, the time has come where we, as a Government and people, must stop talking and act. We want to see the Government move very first and do something. The starting point is the Mau Forest. If you start with the Mau Forest, this House will support you. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, a lot has been said, but let us look at the issue of floods. On the issue of floods, forests act like meatuses? They hold water during the rainy season and release little amounts during the dry spell. Rivers in Ukambani have dried up. A river like Thika River--- That is Chania River in Thika Town. When I was a small boy, I could not cross it. It was a perennial river. But now, it is a seasonal river. The same thing is happening to Athi River. The Government must come out and put up structures like earth dams as huge as Masinga/Kiambere dam on those rivers. The advantages of doing that is that we will have enough water and the issue of floods will be controlled in Ukambani. We will also have enough water for agro-forestry and farming. We will have enough water not only for drinking, but also power generation. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, how much money has been allocated to construct a massive Dam? The last dam was constructed in 1978. It was the size of Masinga dam. That was the Masinga Dam itself. If I was put in that position, every year, I would allocate money to the tune of Kshs20 billion to Kshs30 billion to do that. That is what we want this Government to do. We should put up about four to five dams the size of Masinga Dam every year. We will see change in this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, on the issue of pollution, a lot of has been said. But little has been done. The National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has to act. It must particularly act on the local authorities, starting with Nairobi City Council. The City Council has allowed development, but it does not invest in sewer lines and treatment plants. The last treatment plant was in Njiru. In Thika Town, the treatment plant was done for the old town, 40 years ago. Yet, NEMA does not do anything. The consequence is that today, Athi River is a sewer line. You cannot take a glass of water from Athi River, particularly between Thika Town and the first 30 kilometres up to my constituency. What does NEMA do? It does virtually nothing. They go for small people. They go for the Degoretti fellows. Why can they not go and get the clerks of Nairobi City Council and Thika Town Council, and take them to court? The Town Clerks are approving development plans, but we do not see sewer lines coming up. Most of the sewer lines were designed during the colonial times. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, back at home, yes, the issue of climate change is global. But what have we done, ourselves, to destroy what we have? Nobody in the world can claim he controls or own a particular part. We are all custodians of where we are. Even in America, they cannot claim that land is theirs alone. They are in America as custodians. We Kenyans, are here as custodians. What did we do in the days of KANU? We were professional land grabbers. We grabbed all our forests. As if that it is not enough, we are now logging. As late as a month ago, we saw that the loggers are Government officials who are meant to protect the forest; police officers. It was very interesting to see the police arresting other police officers for logging. What else have we done? We have grabbed all the land where dams were to be constructed. What else have we done? 3402 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 12, 2008 In this Government, the Ministry of Energy is actually a problem. It has been said here by my colleagues that they have pushed up the prices of fuel and electricity. The truth is that charcoal is no a longer a preserve of the poor. It is now being used by everybody. Everybody has a small charcoal burning jiko in his house. That is because the Ministry of Energy has failed. Paraffin is too expensive and the common man cannot afford it. Electricity is also very expensive for anybody to afford it. Fuel is out of reach. We want to see this Government stop playing politics. This Government is already playing the 2012 politics. It does not want to go to the Mau Forest, so that it can get votes from that region in 2012. Is that the kind of Government which Kenyans want? We want solutions and not politics. We want leaders who can stand up. Even if you lose your seat because you have evicted people from forests, let it be. But Kenyans will always remember you as a genuine leader. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in Ukambani, small hills should be left for purposes of forestry. But what are doing? Of late, we are allowing people to farm in those hills. We should encourage forestry in hills like Kiima Kimwe in Machakos and other hills in Mbooni. But today, the Grand Coalition Government must wake up. We want to see it move. If it moves, this House will support it. If it does not, we will make sure that its life here as a Government is short lived. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}