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{
"id": 212635,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/212635/?format=api",
"text_counter": 170,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Maathai",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 226,
"legal_name": "Wangari Muta Maathai",
"slug": "wangari-maathai"
},
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this time round, we are talking about global warming. We know that the green vegetation on our road reserves absorbs carbon. Cars that travel on the roads contribute towards green house gases. One way the Ministry could mitigate that problem is to allow vegetation on our highways. Vegetation absorbs some of those green house gases. What good do we get when we cut vegetation? Why do we love clear-cut road reserves? I just do not understand that. They look ugly and they expose the soil. I do not want to belabour this point. But I have raised it so many times and nothing seems to happen. People almost believe that when you have bushes along the road reserves, you have to clear them. But it would be much more beautiful, the land would be stabilised and we would protect our soils and our roads if we allowed vegetation to thrive along the road reserves. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would also like to mention that, in many places, especially along the highlands, water tends to run very fast down hill. Many farmers, for some reason, believe that, that water should not be allowed to get to their farms. Quite often, the water is allowed to gush fast downstream. By the time it reaches the streams, it is so strong that it washes away the bridges. It takes more money, resources and frustrations of communities who call their hon. Members to say that their bridges have been washed away. When you visit such places, you will realise that the water that washed the bridge came from upstream and flew very fast downstream. The Ministry should really look into that and find ways in which we can manage the flow of water along the roads, especially in the highlands. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, farmers whose farms border roads should be encouraged, even financially, to enable them to cut furrows on their farms. Those furrows would help to harvest that rain water. If the furrows are deep and not too wide, the water will go into the underground. We will then harvest that rain water. We lose a lot of water when we do not harvest rain water. That water goes into the rivers and flows downstream. Unfortunately, it also carries with it the top soil. So, not only are we losing water - and we are not able to replenish underground water because it is running off - but we are also losing the soil. Sometimes, we also lose the bridges and roads. I want to encourage the experts - the road managers and engineers - to look into those issues because they seem to be completely forgotten. I see it along the roads in my constituency. I try to do it on my own, but it ought to be addressed from the Ministry level. Maybe, we need to work very closely with the Ministry of Agriculture, so that we can harvest water and, at the same time, help our roads. That way, we will not lose so much money, especially during the rainy season. This is something I have looked into very closely. Not only from the environmental point of view, but also from the fact that we spend so much money on these roads. We want them to be passable. It is a pity that after heavy rains, our people are always on phones telling us those roads are impassable, terrible, horrible and so on and that they are stuck. They tell us the bridge has been washed away and so on. It is all a combination of these factors that could be addressed. I am quite sure to do so, would not be expensive. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to speak for my constituency. It is, probably, the only one that does not have a tarmac road in this country. It used to have a tarmac road that was built in 1960s. This is Kiakanja-Githerere Road. Initially, we have been trying to make a U-turn 2698 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 24, 2007 from Githerere, so that it joins Muthuaini, Tetu Constituency. I hope that this time this road will be considered because it is extremely helpful to my constituency. We had also recommended that the same road be tarmacked from Githerere through the Aberdares Forest up to Kinangop because we have a lot of trouble trying to keep people out of the forest on the Nyeri side. As I said, the Nyeri side has food problem because they have put most of their land under coffee and tea plantations. However, on the Kinangop side, they have no coffee or tea plantations. They are agricultural people who grow a lot of food. However, since they do not have a market, a lot of their food goes to waste. We have, therefore, suggested that if we could open up that road between Nyeri and Kinangop, we would allow food to come to the Nyeri side. The Nyeri people would have enough food and stop encroaching on the forest or putting pressure on the Aberdares Forest. On the other hand, the people, on the Kinangop side, would have a very big market for their produce in Nyeri. Secondly, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this is an extremely beautiful part of our country. It would help tourists coming from Maasai Mara National Park. They do not have to come to Nairobi and then to Nyeri. They could cut across the Aberdares Forest to Nyeri side. This is such a scenic part of the country that I am sure will be an attraction. So, economically, it is quite a viable proposition. I hope that the Ministry would seriously consider it. I know, at one time, the Ministry was giving it serious consideration, but I do not know what happened. I still think that it is a very important proposition. It is very economically important. It is also environmentally very helpful to our country to protect forests, especially the Aberdares Forest. With these remarks, I beg to support."
}