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{
    "id": 820120,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/820120/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 238,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba South, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Mbadi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "doing the work that they did in terms of looking at this serious matter of national importance. We all know the importance of forests in this country and logging has been the enemy of our forest cover. Kenya is one of the countries with the lowest forest cover in the world. We have all along been talking about increasing our forest cover. This cannot work unless we crack on these illegal loggers and conserve our water resources. I know there are scientists in this House and they will tell you the connection between forests, rain, water and our livelihoods. Countries that are concerned about their lives take it so seriously to protect their environment, but in Kenya, we are so careless. We politicise every event even when it is for the benefit of the country. I have looked at this Report, but quickly. I did not really spend much time on it but one thing that worries me is that the Report, in my view, is not wide enough. It is kind of personalised to an individual. I would expect the committee to look at this matter with a more open mind rather than focussing on an individual. Having said that, the issue of conserving forests is not negotiable. My colleagues have spoken about this and I want to repeat and be on record that there is a time that the issue of the Mau Forest, which is the biggest forest cover in this country, must be dealt with. There are people who made us apologetic about discussing Mau, that if you discuss Mau, then you are seen to be an enemy of some ethnic group or a group of people. Far from it, the Mau Forest is a national resource. It is an important forest cover for this country where we all have interest and no one should claim more interest than others. The destruction of the Mau Forest has led to so many deaths. I have heard people complain that some people are exposed to inhumane conditions. As one person who stands and fights for human rights, it would not be right for me to support anyone who exposes the life of another to inhuman treatment and suffering. So, I ask the Government to look into that matter. But even as we consider that, think about the lives which are lost because of the destruction of the Mau Forest. It is because of the Mau Forest that we are seeing a lot of flooding around the Narok area. Even the Solai Dam that has just been investigated by the Senate, we are not bold enough to say that those are consequences of the destruction of the Mau Forest. What has changed the environment? Why is it that now flooding can cause such kind of destruction around Nakuru where we lose 48 people in an evening? It is because of our careless nature as human beings. I happen to come from a constituency where there is a forest called Gwasi Forest. The personnel who were employed to take care of that forest are very lazy. They are not going inside the forest. In fact, when I was in primary school, I could see the forest officers residing within the forest. Nowadays, all the forest guards live several kilometres away from the forest. I do not know how they take control of our forest when they live 10 kilometres away from the forest. I realise that because of our human behaviour, we ended up losing that forest cover and what these forest officers do is to go outside the forest and start arresting people and taking bribes."
}