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{
    "id": 1112592,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1112592/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 78,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Sakaja",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13131,
        "legal_name": "Johnson Arthur Sakaja",
        "slug": "johnson-arthur-sakaja"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I truly sympathize with the Committee on Lands, Environment and Natural Resources in this House. As Sen. Murkomen pointed out, this Committee has pending land issues. It has a lot of petitions and Statements because of the nature of land questions. Many times have I suggested that the mandate of that Committee be divided into other Committees or sub committees, but it is what it is. If the late Dedan Kimathi, the late Mau Mau fighters, Maasais and Samburus, who were fighting for independence were to rise up from the dead, they would tell you that we are yet to get independence. The clamour for Independence was a fight for African land. If the bulk of the large tracts of land are still not in African hands today, then I am not sure if we can truly say that we are independent. These are injustices dating back to 1952. Some of them date back earlier. I sympathize with this Committee. I do not know what the Committee, led by Sen. Mwangi, can do that the Ndung’u Land Report does not address. All these issues are already addressed in the Ndung’u Land Report. The question is: Are we paying lip service to the people of Samburu or should we try and address the real issue that exists in this country with respect to land? Earlier today, I met residents from Jericho and Lumumba Estate in Nairobi. I have also met chairpersons of more than 10 estates in Nairobi on the issue of urban renewal. The people that I met today asked me a question that I would consider to be more of legal question than a philosophical question. Sen. Murkomen or Sen. Orengo can answer this question. The question was: Who does the land that we refer to as public or county land belong to? They said that the Constitution says that the county holds the public land in trust for the people. Their question was: Are we not the people? They said that they are the people. Who is the county if not us? We are the county."
}