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{
    "id": 1052222,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1052222/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 223,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Igembe North, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Maoka Maore",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13344,
        "legal_name": "Richard Maore Maoka",
        "slug": "richard-maore-maoka"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to this amendment and to congratulate the Member for bringing it at a time when many institutions had overlooked it. Before the amendment or even before the Ndung’u Land Commission, there was a lot of agitation that was protesting the issue of grabbing of public land. In those days, or the yesteryears, those who wished to be rewarded for doing favours with the Government of the day would normally go for a favour and in most cases, they would identify an empty piece of land and seek it to be allocated to them and the allocation was usually swift. You have seen also the trend that has been happening over the years. People who have appetite for land are merciless in very many ways. This Bill gives the Registrar the power to designate public land in the process of the land adjudication and consolidation. The Committee has done quite a thorough job after they received the memoranda. In that process, they have come up with very good comments and recommendations that have enriched the Bill. When the Committee goes to do the amendments, specifically what has been happening in Nairobi over the years in other settlement schemes, people do adjudication or demarcations of land and make sure they do not make any reference to what should happen to public land meant for schools and other institution. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, I know you have been following the battle between the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) and Weston Hotel, where they wish to expand and have their offices. You found the drama that happened between the courts, the office of the Permanent Secretary in those days, and finally, the disaster that was visited on it, specifically where Weston Hotel stands. Whereas in other places they would demand the land back, on this one, they came up with a weird recommendation that the land can be bought. It is okay, yes, you can buy the land, but what will you do with the future intentions of the institutions or the extension of the offices or the facility that is just across the road in the name of Wilson Airport? You do not know to what extent our institutions can bend over backwards to accommodate some things to which they do not care to have their names appended for posterity. That is the kind of unscrupulous conduct you may not see. If you are a land commissioner and your signature is on such a document, what will you see when you look into the mirror in future? You will see a lot of shame. When this Bill is enacted and it empowers the Registrar to go ahead and pick land pieces that are needed for development of institutions or public utilities, those institutions must take preference over other interests. After you have given land to private individuals, in the not-so- distant future you will find yourself paying excessive amounts of money to buy back the same land which you should have obtained free of charge. As Members contribute, they should know that land may be needed for a museum, a public library or an institution that is needed by a community, only to turn around and find that all the land was allocated to individuals. They may not have grabbed it, but whoever was adjudicating the land was very myopic and never thought that those kinds of institutions would be needed. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}