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{
    "id": 1183462,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1183462/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 124,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Nominated, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. John Mbadi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to contribute to this Motion by Hon. Ferdinand Wanyonyi. This country has a problem with land. That became evident after the 2007 general election. That is why one of the most critical issues that were discussed at that time was land use. In the Constitution, we came up with a full chapter on land and environment. It was the understanding then that once we promulgated the Constitution of Kenya 2010, an Act of Parliament on better land use would be enacted, followed by regulations which would help in specifying the minimum or maximum acreage of land that one individual can have so as to deal with the bigger problem. There are two issues I would like to point out. I am happy that Hon. Ferdinand Wanyonyi is spot-on on this matter. First, is the issue of land fragmentation. In order for us to have food in the country, our land must be productive. We have a lot of productive agricultural land in the country which has been fragmented into smaller pieces, which are not even economical for farmers. Therefore, farmers basically grow for subsistence. The country engages in subsistence farming because agricultural land has been fragmented. If you go to my neighbouring counties of Kisii and Nyamira, where my friend comes from, there are very fertile lands that have been fragmented. Many tall buildings have been constructed in places where we could have used the land properly. Members of the Gusii community also want to live. They want housing. So, how do you balance between protecting agricultural land and providing housing for the Kisii and Meru peoples, or for the people in Kakamega? Those are densely populated areas. We should have come up with a proper land use policy where people are settled in tall buildings, so that we bring people together and close to each other while protecting fertile agricultural land for food production. That is one area. The rate at which land is being subdivided in Kitale, Trans Nzoia and in all those areas in the Rift Valley, which we have all along called the food basket of this country, is alarming. Give it just a few years and you will find that those areas will not be able to feed this country. The lands will be uneconomical. Secondly and fundamentally, there are also areas where huge tracts of land, which are owned by some of us here, lie fallow. I have no evidence, but I am sure there are Members of Parliament who even own hundreds of acres of land and they do nothing with them. They just drive there over the weekend enjoying how rich they are. When compiling their wealth declaration forms, they state how they have billions of shillings which do not exist in real sense. There is no reason why you should own huge tracts of land. You do not even do anything on an acre yet you have 1,000 acres. What would one individual do with 5,000 acres of land? Why not sell it to other people who can put it into productive use? We are not saying that it should be repossessed. That route has been taken by some countries and the results were not positive. Zimbabwe tried it and they were not successful. So, do not go and forcefully take land from people. We should, instead, encourage owners of large tracts of land to sell, and Kenyans should be encouraged to buy it from them. The Government can buy land from those individuals. You can ask them to surrender that land, give them money for it and give the land to those who want to farm as their main economic activity. That is doable and achievable, but there is no goodwill. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for informationpurposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}