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{
    "id": 774984,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/774984/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 248,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "content": "country is becoming a desert. That is the case whether you cross Mau Forest, Cherangany Hills or Mt. Kenya. You may think that Mt. Kenya Forest is safe only to realize that logging is going on there and hardwood is being destroyed. Which forest will we remain with? There is a problem. In fact, I was telling the Cabinet Secretary (CS) that his Ministry should be called a super Ministry of some sort, and that is what I can tell the President. I say this because people say that there is a ‘super minister.’ If that is the case, then the ‘super minister’ should be the one in charge of environment. That Ministry should be called the Ministry of State in Charge of Environment. The environment should be something in the heart of the President to salvage, if we care about the future generations. We want to take care of ourselves and go, but our children will have nothing called the forest. As Kenyans, we must have this conversation everywhere. I see many people in central Kenya engage in agroforestry. This could be as a result of the impact that they have had over time as a result of depletion of the forests. If you overfly Murang’a, Kiambu or even Nyeri County, you would think that it is generally forested, because people are practicing agroforestry. However, if you go to Nakuru County where Sen. Kihika comes from, it is a desert. Apart from a few trees, there is no forest to be proud of in Nakuru County. If we say that Elgeyo-Marakwet County is the second or third county with the biggest forest, then we have a problem. What happens to Kakamega County and Kiambu County that have 12 constituencies each? We also have other large counties like Kitui and Makueni. It means that we have a problem. We need to have a candid conversation in this country. In fact, the President should revise his focus in terms of the four agenda to include environment. I thought about it over the weekend. Without the environment, all the other things that we are trying to do such as food security and employment become impossible. This is because of the importance of the environment in supporting the other systems. We must do something, including allocating enough money to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, so that we can salvage the environment. When that is done, we can then have a conversation on what we need to do with the indigenous people who live in the forests. We can then think of what should be done to the income generating activity that those people are engaged in. However, we must make the first decision of moving our forest cover to a certain level. Sadly, we are now replacing our forest with soft trees such cypress and some funny trees that cannot last long. This is a country with beautiful indigenous trees in Mt. Kenya, Mt. Elgon, Cherangany Hills and Mau Forest, which are the four major water towers. Look at the beauty of the indigenous forest compared to the exotic trees that we are planting. The Cabinet Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources has dealt with issues of polythene papers and so forth, which is good. However, he must take the issue of protection of the environment very seriously. Secondly, you cannot irrigate with the water that comes from Nairobi River. The pollution in Nairobi River is a shame. If you overfly many other areas, you wonder how people survive downstream. The chemicals and toxic substances that are poured into Nairobi River ultimately get to people downstream with their livestock. This should pain The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}