Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 819352,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/819352/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 283,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Njoro, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Charity Chepkwony",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13452,
        "legal_name": "Charity Kathambi Chepkwony",
        "slug": "charity-kathambi-chepkwony-2"
    },
    "content": " Thank you very much Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker for granting me this opportunity to contribute and support this important Motion on matters of logging. It is the Departmental Committee on Environment and Natural Resources that came up with the ban on logging. Indeed, there was a national cry which led to the banning of logging. Rivers were drying up. We realised that the rainfall cycle had changed. This was affecting production of food and thus threatening our food security as a country. We also realised the drying of rivers in the country was affecting cattle and crops. That is why we banned logging. I wish to support what the Chairman said. We realised timber dealers in the country are very many. They are over 800 with the exclusion of the independent and large scale dealers. We also realised that there were some complaints about medium and small-scale dealers. There was no clear and fair definition of trees to be cut. We also realised that there was conflict of mandate between the KFS, KWS and the Kenya Water Towers Agency. It is true we have a challenge of tree seedlings. It is high time the Ministry of Environment in collaboration with the KFS and KEFRI came up with best ways to make sure the youth and women on the ground are empowered to raise seedlings which will increase production of seedlings. During our visit, we also realised community forest associations are very important in this country. When people plant trees, they leave them. Community forest associations in this country are the people left to manage the trees planted and they ensure there is growth of trees which have been planted. They make sure they preserve and conserve them. Though community associations do this great job of managing the forests and trees planted, we realised they get a lot of challenges. They reap nothing when it comes to logging of the trees. The Plantation Establishment Livelihood Improvement Schemes (PELIS) are very important ways through which community forest associations should benefit locals. As the Chairman said, it is true we realised that the KFS’ sacking of staff was not procedural. It needs to be taken up in a different way. We cannot make the 10 per cent forest The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}