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{
    "id": 584552,
    "url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/584552/?format=api",
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    "content": "other projects are taking place, but their issues have not being addressed. It would be an abdication of responsibilities for people who represent counties to wait for the NLC to wake up to do its work that it is mandated to do under the Constitution. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, it would be abdication of duty for the Senate of this Republic, which protects the interests of counties and their governments, to allow the people of Kenya to continue suffering before their injustices are resolved. That would be an injustice and history will judge us harshly if we do not talk about this subject. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, there is a Bill that was proposed by Sen. (Dr.) Zani about sharing of natural resources. How do you ensure equal sharing of natural resources if these issues are not resolved? How will we allow people to extract oil or do whatever they are doing in Ol Kalou or Makueni, or built the SGR while our people are watching? Land in this Republic is one of the issues that have caused sleepless nights to many people. Unfortunately, people who are affected by injustices are the ones referred to as walala hoi in Kiswahili language. These are people who are helpless and cannot help themselves. It reminds me of the famous statement by Karl Marx. He said the society is divided into two; the “haves” and the “have nots”. Law is made to protect the haves while the have nots continue suffering. He goes on to say that religion is the opium of the oppressed. However, we have law and a Constitution in this country. The people of this country do not have to turn to religion because they are oppressed. We have a mandate against the NLC which has slept on its job. Officers of the NLC issue title deeds even before dealing with the questions that Kenyans asked them to deal with. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, I can only imagine why the NLC or any person would not want issues of land to be dealt with. For example, standing here as a Senator and a well trained lawyer, I know there are people in this country who have grabbed land and would suffer greatly if this law is put into place. However, will we shy away from our responsibility? Shall we say that this is not our problem? All of us took oath to defend the Constitution without fear or favour. The portion of not fearing and not favouring is defending the majority citizens of this Republic who have been rendered destitute and poor because somebody somewhere who had power and was in authority took away their land. Therefore, they have been unable to find a method of dealing with that injustice. If this country will exorcise the ghost of the Post-Election Violence (PEV) that has been a precursor, a symptom or a threat in every election, the only way to deal with it is to have legislation that will ensure it fights for the people in this country who cannot do so for themselves. That is the law that we are looking for. We need a law that will call to task people who own acres of land, which they cannot justify where they got them from, to surrender them to their rightful owners. There are people who own big chunks of land where they keep horses, snakes and buffaloes. Yet there are people who do not have a piece of land where they can bury their dead. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, in my county, there are people who bury their dead and plant a tree on the grave because there cannot be any other symbol of showing where their loved ones are buried. Why should we shy away from this issue? There is a lot of land that is capable of satisfying every person in this Republic. Therefore, there is no need of shying away from this issue. We need to get this matter properly done under legislation so that all the people who live in squalor conditions in tents and have been evicted from their homes can stand up – as it was in the Githunguri case – and say, The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}