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{
    "id": 1021269,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1021269/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 281,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Suba North, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Ms.) Odhiambo-Mabona",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 376,
        "legal_name": "Millie Grace Akoth Odhiambo Mabona",
        "slug": "millie-odhiambo-mabona"
    },
    "content": "Let me congratulate the Chairman and the Committee for this good job. I will just make brief comments. The Report looks at 48 State corporations. They have done their best in terms of looking at the corporations and accounting issues. There were just some issues that were standing out, some which other Members have spoken to. One was on the issue of need for titles for State corporations. This is a very big problem in the country, not just touching on State corporations but also touching on other public lands. When I got in as Member for Suba North, the largest public primary school in my constituency was about to be sold. The matter had already gone to court because the person who had originally sold the land had no documentation. Over the years people tend to change their minds. That is happening all over. Because there was no further money to be given, they were selling the largest school. We had to quickly come in and redeem the school at Kshs2 million. One of the things I have noticed because it is a present problem even in my constituency now, is even where you get the title deeds, or even in the process of getting those title deeds, who does it? Who is mandated to do it? Even when you get the title deeds, who actually takes the physical document or secures the document physically? What then happens if it is a school, it is left with the headmaster or the principal. If you find people without integrity, they can still go ahead and try and compromise land and sell it or they can lose it so that these same people go back again and seek the same title. I would want to encourage this Committee to bring a legal amendment so that we have a repository of State titles because we currently do not have a body that is a repository for State titles. Not just for these corporations but also for any State entity. If I have a title as Hon. Millie Odhiambo, I know where I keep it in my house. But, who keeps or where do we keep public ones? If a school burns, for instance, how do we know who has that physical title? I think that is something they need to look at. The other issue that I picked up is what Hon. Jeremiah noticed. I also picked it up. That the Committee did a good job by actually mentioning that the CEOs should be held personally accountable where Government money is lost. I was hoping the Committee would be brave enough to hold people personally accountable by naming them. When you name people, most of them get scared and that increases accountability. I am encouraging the Committee to name people involved in corruption in future. The other issue of squatters is also of concern to me. I had so much to say but I can see that I am running out of time. If you look at this, squatters do not come in droves. It is usually one person and then they multiply. They use the broken window concept to come in because nobody chases them. We should be serious as a Government that whenever one person invades public land, they are evicted immediately instead of waiting to chase them and the Government looks bad. We should stop people squatting on public land. The other issue…"
}