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{
    "id": 188221,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/188221/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 153,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. C. Kilonzo",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 46,
        "legal_name": "Charles Mutavi Kilonzo",
        "slug": "charles-kilonzo"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir. Let me thank the Mover of this Motion. The issue of water catchment areas has been discussed for too long! We are all in agreement that we must protect water catchment areas. The question is: Is the Government ready to effect what has been said before? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we do not want commissions to be set up. Setting up a July 23, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2017 commission to inquire into what is happening in Mau Forest is of no use! We know that we need to protect our water catchment areas! Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, communities in those areas should know that Ukambani was once a very green and wet area! Those were the good old days when the entire Kangundo Constituency, where hon. Muthama comes from, was a water catchment area. There were no people living there! Today, Kangundo is fully settled and we have no water in Ukambani. If we allow people to settle in the Cherangany Hills and Mau Forest, in essence, the entire country will become a desert. I do not know what is there in all these arguments and why people should not move out of the forest. It is very clear that forests are water catchment areas. We should be talking about expanding water catchment areas. If there are people living in those forests and they have title deeds, we have laws. We have the Compulsory Land Acquisition Act which should be used to evict these people. The Government can pay them off and let them move out of the forest. If there are people who have settled in the forest and they have no title, they have no business living there. We know there is greed. We know people want to settle there and make money. When the people heard that those to be evicted from Mau Forest will be compensated, other people started moving into the forest. We have to be very careful. Do we want to have a country which is a desert or do we want a country which is green with a lot of water? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the culture of Ministers calling titles pieces of paper is not acceptable. The culture of people claiming they were given land in the forests is also not acceptable. If you have no title, you should move out. If you have a title, let the Government compensate you. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}