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{
    "id": 820157,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/820157/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 275,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Narok North, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Richard ole Kenta",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 420,
        "legal_name": "Richard Moitalel ole Kenta",
        "slug": "richard-moitalel-ole-kenta"
    },
    "content": "defeats logic for people to go and shout and abuse people on the Mau yet they do not know what happened. If I may just tell the Kenyan people one thing, the Mau Forest has been invaded by illegal “poachers”; by people who are not supposed to be there and should not be there. There are a few crooks who extended group ranches into the Mau. That is well documented. In 2009, there was a taskforce report that said these people should be moved, the compensation was only Kshs250 million because there were only 400 title deeds. As we are talking, there are thousands of title deeds from River Road. Then, you hear leaders coming from all over trying to ethnicise and insult. Then, I wonder whether we are still a country or we are just a divided country that does not know where it is going. One thing I would like to specifically say is that there is a big tea plantation which has been put there; 30 kilometres by 24 kilometres. We would like to have the inventory of where the produce went; where the forest produce went because it is worth billions. It is the same grabbers who are known all over the country. They have grabbed land in Trans Mara; they have grabbed land in Laikipia; they have grabbed land in Mau; they have grabbed land everywhere. That is why you find them shouting loudest not knowing that they are destroying other people’s lives. When I see people going to the Mau and insulting somebody like Mr. Natembeya who is the County Commissioner of Narok, those kinds of attitudes are so much misplaced. They should actually congratulate this person. Mr. Natembeya should not bow to any pressure. Let everybody who thinks they own Mau bring their title deeds, let them be verified but when they are outside the forest, not when they are inside. It is 400 titles because I think those are the only people who got into the forest. You cannot tell us that the people all the way from Maasai land, Kericho, Bomet, Western, Rift Valley and even Tanzania and Egypt are of less importance than a few people. You cannot tell us that. You cannot tell us your rights; you cannot break the law and say you have rights. What rights do you have? Do your rights override mine? No! You cannot do that. You cannot be a thief. In fact, those people should be surcharged for destruction of the forests and for farming on that land which they do not have its title for the last 15 years. If anything, they should compensate the people of Kenya, but not ask for compensation. In any case, how do you compensate a trespasser? If we proceed like this, somebody will get into Uhuru Park, the way they did in Ngong Forest, and claim it and then we will do nothing about it because a precedent has already been set. If we do not resolve the Mau issue, I am telling you we will have no country. I said it before, you cannot come and tell us that this is the community or it is your land. Where did you get it from? You cannot come and tell us that. You cannot own land that does not belong to you. When you hear them coming to castigate Maasai leaders on television and radio, you wonder what they are talking about. You wonder whether they really understand what they are talking about. You even ask yourself whether these are Kenyans or people who do not know what they are doing for this country. They do not even know how much they are destroying this country. I am not talking as a tribalist. What worries me most is when you talk about the Rift Valley, for example, you call Members of Parliament (MPs) to talk about Rift Valley but you find just one community being Rift Valley. That is not the truth. There are many other communities in the Rift Valley. If people think that they own the Rift Valley until they end up owning our households and bedrooms, they should have another thinking coming their way. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I would like to state just one clear fact: the environment must be preserved. Let us not tribalise it. In fact, when you look at Narok, the people who benefit from the Maasai Mara are all Kenyans. The hotels there are employing all 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."
}