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{
"id": 1014053,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1014053/?format=api",
"text_counter": 180,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Kang’ata",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 1826,
"legal_name": "Irungu Kang'ata",
"slug": "irungu-kangata"
},
"content": "Before that, we used to have so many pieces of legislation dealing with land. We had the Registered Lands Act, the Registration of Titles Act, and the Indian Transfer and Properties Act. They were about five, if I am not wrong. I stand to be corrected. In the year 2012, all those pieces of legislation were collated into two Acts; the Land Act (2012) and the Land Registration Act (2012). Those are the primary land laws that are currently regulating land ownership in Kenya. Therefore, when we have a Sectional Properties Act, making reference to a law that no longer exists, from a legal point of view, that means that there is a huge lacuna. Therefore, we needed to come up with a Bill to remedy that. Otherwise, those who are still constructing buildings and giving out sectional properties are having that problem, now that the law that was hinged on that Sectional Properties law has now been repealed and is no longer in operation. Madam Deputy Speaker, apart from that, there were other problems with that law, which I would also like to highlight. The issue was that the strata titles registration scheme was quite expensive and had many technical demands. Thirdly, it was not flexible. Remember that the legislation benefits were with the areas with long leases from Government and land on freehold tenure. There were also problems with the fact that these strata title registration schemes were not only laborious, but also quite unclear. Therefore, you often found a situation where there were fights between people owning one building. The first instinct was: Could we amend the problematic Acts in that 1987 law? It was realized to be impossible. They were too problematic, and therefore, the best case scenario would be to come up with a new Bill, which is this one, to ensure that we have a more concise and clear Bill. That is why the Government has brought this Bill in support of this new ownership of property by strata. Madam Deputy Speaker, allow me to now go to the second limb, which is the specifics of this new law. This new law has Part 1 on the preliminaries, Part 2 on the preparation of sectional plans and units, Part 3 on the establishment of the corporation, Part 4 on the provisions relating to residential units and Part 5 on miscellaneous provisions. Let me start with Part 1. Part 1 is mainly about definitions. In Section 1 there is a Short Title, the proposed Section 2 is on the application, and then Section 3 is about interpretation. I bring your attention to the proposed Section 3 of this Bill. When you look at the definitions, they are hinged on the new Land Registration Act or the Land Act. Let me give an example. The cadastral map has the meaning assigned to it under the Land Registration Act (2012). Certificate of lease has the meaning assigned to it under the Land Act (2012). Madam Deputy Speaker, the fact that the definitions are hinged on new existing laws is an improvement. In the same way, take the definition of the term “easement.” It has the meaning assigned to it under the Land Act (2012). For me, this is progress. Therefore, I urge the hon. Senators to pass this Bill so that it takes into account the new laws on land. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}