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"speaker_name": "Prof. Maathai",
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"content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I think much of the insecurity that we see is actually as a result of certain things that we have allowed to happen in our country. I particularly want to mention something about the slums. We have watched and allowed slums in this country to expand to the point that more people live in slums in Nairobi rather than live in planned estates. I think it is a bit of a deception for ourselves to think that we can have slums like Kibera, Mathare and Mukuru in Nairobi, and many other slums in many other towns, allow our young people to grow in those slums, under those conditions, and expect them to grow into responsible citizens. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, secondly, when children grow in those circumstances, they can be easily persuaded to use drugs, misuse substances, misuse alcohol, and can easily be recruited into the organised gangs that the Minister spoke about. So, I, really, think that the Ministry ought to also address the root causes of some of the insecurity situations that we have in this country. It is wrong to address the symptoms instead of addressing the root causes. I know that we can say that the slums belong to the Ministry of Housing. However, it is very important for us to understand that if we do not address the issue of slums and drug abuse seriously, we will eventually have to deal with what comes out of those slums, which will partly be such organised gangs of youths, who are unemployed, having dropped out of school, and whose parents were drugged, or were misusing alcohol and who, therefore, eventually became disoriented and turned to crime. Therefore, what should be unacceptable is for us to allow a \"Muthaiga\", a \"Lavington\" and a \"Karen\" to develop at the same time, and within the same environment as Mathare and Kibera. When, as leaders and Government, we start to be ashamed that we live in a country where millions July 10, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2369 of our people live under those circumstances, we shall begin to address the causes of the problems in our country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also want to address the issue of the environment with respect to security. Perhaps one area which will become a great source of insecurity in our country is the environment. This country is threatened with desertification, especially in the areas where we have our pastoral communities. In those areas, we are constantly losing ground as the land becomes over-grazed and turns into desert. Also, in the areas around our five mountains, we have over-concentration of populations. People are over-cultivating. There is no adequate attention to the protection of the land, and we are losing thousands upon thousands of tonnes of top soil to the Indian Ocean. These are going to be sources of insecurity. When we talk of the special programmes in the Ministry, some of these programmes are addressing issues of desertification, because our people are dying, or starving, in some parts of the country because of the way the land has degraded. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would, therefore, like to have the Ministry, again, address the environmental issues. You can say that, that is an issue for the Ministry responsible for the environment but, as I have said quite often in this House, some Ministries should be working very closely together because, in many ways, what is happening in one Ministry impacts negatively on what is happening in another Ministry. For instance, if the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources does not address the issue of desertification, or that of deforestation, sooner or later, the impact of that omission will be a security issue, as people go round looking for areas where they can find food and pasture. With regard to water, we all know that there is major subject being discussed at the moment, which is not being given adequate attention in our country or, maybe, in our region. That is the issue of climate change. Climate change is going to be a major security issue, not only in our country but within the whole region. This is because Africa is particularly threatened by global warming, because of the fact that we have deserts in the north and south, and that we are very busy de-forestating in the middle. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, our mountains are losing their ice and snow, and our rivers are drying up. There was a long article in the Daily Nation the other day about rivers in Mount Kenya drying up. The situation is the same whether we talk about the Mount Aberdares or Mau Forest or Mount Elgon; our rivers are drying up! Without water, or rainfall, we will face major security issues in years to come. That may not be seen as an issue of this Ministry. But it is very important that this Ministry, as it looks into issues of security, should not only focus on"
}