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{
    "id": 117781,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/117781/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 499,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Mbadi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I would also like to support this Motion that is before us. Let me, first of all, say that I am happy to be in the ten Parliament that is, probably, going to pass the first land policy since Independence of this country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, land issues have been very emotive in this country and a lot of problems that we have witnessed – they were most pronounced from 1992 - are, of course, linked to elections. But if you look at the problems critically, you realize that land has really played a big role in the problems that we have gone through. It, therefore, means that, as a country, we need to have some land policies that have been lacking for a long time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I believe this Policy is going to address some of the historical issues that we have been talking about. A lot of times, we have complained of title deeds which are issued illegally. This time round, I believe the Minister, who is a reformist, is going to make sure that we bring some sanity in the issue of title deeds. Yes, the sanctity of title deeds needs to be respected but this is only if they are given out legally. We have heard a number of cases in this country where people acquire land illegally and then later on, come flashing the title deed and telling everybody who cares to listen or hear that there is sanctity of title deeds. I believe that, this time round, we are going to correct some of these anomalies. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I also wanted to talk about the attachment that people have on land in this country, which is really amazing. It is high time, with the current growth in population, that we de-emphasize on land and concentrate on space. Let us start thinking more on how we can claim space rather than land. Because you realize that some people just take pride in owning land. Someone owns thousands of acres land and he does nothing with it! I will not mention names, but there are some pieces of land where, if you drive from here going to western Kenya, you are told that this land belongs to so-and-so. Ever since I started passing there when I started coming to Nairobi, I have not see any economic activity taking place. This time round, even if the National Land Policy is not going to address some of these issues, I believe the new Constitution that, probably, will be passed will address the issue so that we do not have speculators. It is not right for the majority of landowners in this country to be speculators rather than users of the same resource. I think it is high time that land speculation is made expensive so that people will own land that they want to put into some productive use. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to also talk about this issue of historical injustice, which I believe is properly addressed in the current National Land"
}