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{
    "id": 774658,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/774658/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 217,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. F.K. Wanyonyi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2065,
        "legal_name": "Ferdinard Kevin Wanyonyi",
        "slug": "ferdinard-kevin-wanyonyi"
    },
    "content": "Members that let us take liberty because NG-CDF has got money for afforestation. You can use 10 per cent of that money to plant trees in every primary school. Fifty years to come you will not be there, I will not be here, most of us will not be here, but the generation will ask what we did for them. Today, as Hon. Mbarire mentioned and I agree with her, sometimes back when I was in Nairobi and doing business up to Nyeri, I could see there was cover. When you were flying down Mombasa sometimes back you could see Kilimanjaro covered. Today there is nothing. All you can see are stones. Mount Elgon, which is the third tallest mountain, used to have forests. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, forest guards and foresters have taken liberty in selling wood. It is completely cut out. You see many trucks coming down with logs from Mt. Elgon, but nothing is done as if there is nobody on guard. Hon. Tobiko, wherever you are, please, take leadership and stand up. We are lucky because today when I was coming to Bunge, he mentioned that if you are caught cutting indigenous trees, it is criminal. Please, let us abide by that. Most of our catchment areas are Mt. Elgon, Mt. Kenya and Mt. Kilimanjaro, but if you clear the indigenous forests, you would not even have spring waters. We have a Cabinet Secretary who should take this very seriously so as to move and at least reclaim this in the next two to three years. And as one Member has mentioned this afternoon, let us have issues to do with the environment as a subject in school so that our children can know that it is part of their responsibility to take care of nature. It is important to do that. Last but not least, today I was attending a meeting on agriculture and the emphasis originating from that meeting was irrigation. We do not know when the rains are going to come in order to prepare ourselves. We should engage in irrigation projects. We may now start drilling underground water for irrigation in places like Kitale where large Agricultural Development Corporations (ADC) farms are found. We should do that so that we can have two seasons of planting maize in a year, without which, we run a risk of famine in this country because we are not even sure whether the next rains are coming. When I was driving down from Kitale, there was no rain in some parts. It is until I reached Limuru that I saw some clouds. I was happy because I thought it was going to rain, but there was none. As somebody mentioned, what you are seeing as clouds is actually dust clouds. They are not even rain clouds. Therefore, I want us to be very serious. Please, let us give back to nature so that we can have at least 2 per cent forest cover or up to 5 per cent. It is doable. It is just a matter of us putting our feet down and taking that as the right thing to do. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I am a very disappointed person, but I hope and pray that this National Policy on Climate Finance is implemented. The earlier we start doing that, the better. I am sure the private sector would be attracted to this. Once we start doing something, you will see somebody coming up and we might end up getting contributions towards the particular programme which would be for the prosperity of this country. I want to rest my case but as a very disappointed Kenyan because of our carelessness in the past. We have abused nature. Please, let us stop this and move on. I support the Paper."
}