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{
"id": 967990,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/967990/?format=api",
"text_counter": 19,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Wetangula",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 210,
"legal_name": "Moses Masika Wetangula",
"slug": "moses-wetangula"
},
"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to support this petition with a caveat. In this country, we have had people who lived in forests as hunters and gatherers. Those people lived peacefully in forests, and protected them. They were born and bred conservationists. However, the problem started when the Government started destroying forests as if we are at war with each other. Forests were excised and land dished out to politically correct people. As you can see, the petition is very clear, that when the land was excised, it was meant to be awarded to the squatters. However, no squatter normally gets land. The people who benefit from the lands are the people at the provincial administration, their relatives and friends who get the pieces of land; who immediately sell them off. Therefore, the real squatters remain marooned in markets and so on, and so forth. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am happy that the petitioners are not asking to go back to the forest. I believe that they understand that we need forests. The evictees want alternative land. However, sooner or later, this country will run out of the alternative land that everybody is asking for. We have to find a way of protecting not only the forests, but the dignity of the people of this country. I have witnessed everywhere that the people who destroy the forests are not the locals, but the rich people who were allocated huge chunks of the land. Some of the rich people planted huge chunks of tea plantations, while others mowed down the forest and sold the land. What the rich people do is normally evict people from his neighbourhood and unlawfully settle them on forest land. They tell them, niachie ekari mbili, kisha nitakupaekari nne kwingine . You will discover that rich people have huge tracts of land where there is no dispute, yet they have settled poor people in an area where they will live under the risk of eviction every day. Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Senate Committee on Land, Environment and Natural Resources must investigate the issue of land keenly. I invite them to look at the issue of the conflict about conservation of forests, not only in Dundori Forest, but in the Mau, Mt. Elgon, Mt. Kenya, Aberdare Forest and everywhere else. We need to protect our forests, but we also need to treat our nationals with dignity and respect by protecting their human rights. Lastly, Mr. Speaker, Sir, the Government may consider that given the dwindling sizes of land and the availability of arable land, they should set up townships with amenities such as schools, hospitals, security and water, so that those people can be assisted by even building houses so that they can lead a decent life and bring up their families. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I beg to support the petition. Thank you."
}