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"speaker_name": "Prof. Maathai",
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"legal_name": "Wangari Muta Maathai",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I want to join hon. Members in congratulating the Minister for the way he has moved the Motion and also for the on-going campaigns to plant trees in the capital city. It is particulary very good to see trees being planted on road reserves because, in the past, the habit in Nairobi and in many other places in the countryside, has been to clear off any trees along the road serves. These trees are not only beautiful, but they also stabilise the roads and prevent soil erosion. So, I am very happy to see the Ministry planting trees on the road reserves. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to raise a few issues which I have mentioned in this House on several occasions. I would like to join other hon. Members in expressing disappointment that we have mentioned so many times in this House, and I have certainly done so through the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, that they must do something about the plastic bags in this country. When will we stop production of the very thin plastic bags that are used in shops and kiosks ? Eventually, these plastic bags end up in dump sites, drainage and in poor neighbourhoods such as Kayole Estate. There is absolutely no reason why we continue to smother our country with plastic bags. We find them on hedges and trees. They are even eaten by animals. In some cases, they cause the death of those animals. Why can we not stop their production once and for all? Without any exaggeration, if you visit any dump site, more than half of the garbage is plastic. That plastic will never rot. We find them in rivers. I think it is about time that the Ministry of Local Government and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources together with the National Environmental Management Authority, dealt with this menace. We have on many occasions gone as close as possible to banning them, but somehow, factories are able to go to the Ministry and convince them that they need to be in business. However, we need jobs, but not at the expense of our environment, especially the cleanliness of this city. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we spend a lot of money promoting Kenya abroad. This is good. However, I am quite sure that we will not need to use half as much money promoting Kenya abroad if we just kept Kenya clean. Many tourists would visit this country if we have a clean city. However, if they come here and walk over garbage and dirty water, especially when it rains, they will not come back again. If our neighbourhoods are suffocating with plastic bags, tourists would not like to see it. They want to see a decent town, leave alone a capital city. So this is where we should really invest. 2496 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES August 1, 2006 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the other point that I would like to say is that this is one of the few capitals in the world without pedestrians' walk paths. Why is it that we can afford to tarmack roads and plant trees, but we cannot afford to create walk paths for our people? Why is it that we cannot afford to create bicycle paths, so that the majority of our people who cannot afford cars cycle without the risk of permanent damage or death? Anybody who rides a bicycle in this city is surely playing with death. It is very important for the Nairobi City Council (NCC) to demand that anybody who rides a bicycle in this city has reflective material or the bicycle are well lit. I do not know how many times I have seen people very early in the morning or late in the evening when it is dark, riding bicycles in total darkness. Most of these bicycles do not have lights or reflective back lights. Some of these people need to follow laws, which we have to enforce so that we do not have people maimed or killed and then we make such a big fuss about burials. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have talked about these issues before so I just wonder why they are not prioritized in this Ministry. It is this Ministry that should provide these facilities, which for all practical purposes, are essential services for the poor people in our society. It is important to manage waste from slaughter houses. We still allow waste from slaughter houses to go into our rivers. We still have a lot of our people getting water from the rivers. So, many of our rivers, especially those running close to slaughter houses are the drainage for blood and waste. I just do not see how we accept that. There must be ways of managing that waste. The Minister said that one of the waste we manage is solid waste. The solid waste from the slaughter houses should be managed. It should not be allowed to go into the rivers. For the sake of the environment, this is completely unacceptable. I do not see why somebody has to come and say it is unhygienic to allow solid waste from slaughter houses to be drained into our rivers. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to also say that the congestion in our cities is completely deplorable. I do not know how much time we waste. The other day I was driving towards Nyeri and I must say I was shocked. All the way from Nairobi Town to somewhere around Roysambu, cars were bumper-to-bumper. I wondered how those people would eventually get to the City and this was already about 6.30 a.m. We must do something about congestion; not only because it wastes time and energy - imagine all the petrol that is burnt while people are crawling in this congestion - but also the gases that these cars emit. If we are really serious about global warming, we must remember that we are the headquarters of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). We must set an example as people who are sensitive to the environment. So, for us to allow the kind of congestion that one sees in the morning into the City and in the evening out of the City, is really a reflection of how little we care about the environment and the whole issue of global warming."
}