Majority Leader Aden Duale has called on the government to go after the big fish in the ongoing Mau evictions and stop frustrating the poor.
Duale claimed there are powerful politicians and people in government who have encroached on Mau Forest but they have not been touched.
"So far, we are only chasing those who have one chicken, those who have two goats. We want government to deal with those who have 20 acres...the big fishes who have tea factories," Duale said.
Without mentioning names, Duale said the encroachers include former MPs, a former State House comptroller, current senators, current police bosses, and former presidents.
He claimed the rich and the famous own thousands of acres of tea plantations inside the Mau escarpment but the multi-agency team carrying out evictions is only going after poor families.
"Those big fishes that I have mentioned must also be evicted with their tea leaves," he said.
"I’m talking about a tea factory which occupies 4000 acres of land," Duale added.
Duale spoke on Thursday during a debate on the report by the Environment and Natural Resources on the management and logging activities in the country.
The committee is chaired by
Maara
MP Kareke Mbiuki.
Duale said as leader of government business in the House, he was not going to be intimidated by the rich and the powerful who have encroached in the Mau.
"The only people who can intimidate me apart from my wife and children, is the president [Uhuru Kenyatta], the deputy [William Ruto] and Hon Raila Odinga, the rest of you cannot. So, I will say as it is," Duale said.
Kitutu Chache South MP Richard Onyonka rose on a point of order seeking clarification from Duale on whether he was contradicting President Uhuru on the eviction orders.
The Majority leader, in his response said: "MPs from privileged families who know they benefited from the Mau evictions should not start getting jitters when I speak about the big fish."
Duale said Onyonka was getting concerned because he is a son of a former minister.
"Those of us in this house who come from privileged positions, when we talk about privileged positions, don’t get constipated," Duale said.
He said he was eager to speak for the poor because he too came from a poor background and can relate with the pain the poor families in Mau are going through.
"I will speak for the peasant because I’m a peasant. The first time I came to Nairobi I was on top of a lorry carrying cattle. I couldn’t even afford a bus, if at all there was a bus," Duale said.
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He said the best way to deal with the evictions was to ensure the TJRC report is implemented to the latter.
Duale told the chairman of the Building Bridges Committee Yusuf Haji and his assistant Adams Oloo to pick the report and implement it as is.
"You don’t need even another scheme of work. You come and pick the TJRC report and implement it," he said.
Minority leader John Mbadi supported Duale on the debate saying the big fish must also be evicted from the Mau forest.
Mbadi dismissed Nakuru Woman Rep
Liza Chelule who questioned why the debate on logging had turned into debate on Mau evictions.
"Are we discussing about Mau eviction or are we discussing a report on Environment and Natural Resources?"
Mbadi said: "I think when we go to amend our standing orders, we will create a provision for point of ignorance.Because you can't say you are raising a point of order when what you are raising is basically a point of ignorance."
He said there was no way the House was going to debate the environment report without touching on Mau forest.
"You cannot talk about logging and destruction of forests resources without talking about the biggest forest we have in this country which is Mau," Mbadi said.
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