Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 118555,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/118555/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 233,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "into imposing taxes on it. However, anybody who is holding onto public land, and is not putting it to productive use, must be taxed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I laud this policy for suggesting and sending the country in a direction where leases of 999 years will not be granted to anybody. How the hell on earth do you give an individual a lease of 999 years? It does not add up! It only perpetuates individuals and their families to cling onto public land for no reason. I would want to invite my colleagues to look at the land reform policies of Holland. In Holland, even if you own agricultural land and you retire from farming, or you die, there is no automatic right of inheritance by your family. Your family must go to the state and prove that they can also farm that land in the same way the Government intended it to be used, so that production can continue. In this country, you have seen sons of rich people, who cling onto very productive land and yet, they do nothing about it. They are staying in Nairobi and maintaining a farm in Uasin Gishu, where they visit, as a ritual, once in a year. They are staying in Nairobi and maintaining a farm in Kitale, where they go to show off to their friends: “This is what my father left for me.” That does not help this country. We want a system where land is a tool for production, and it must be used so. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the second-last point I want to mention is something which the Minister, through this policy, must try to restore back to this country – public land that can be used to attract investments. If you are an investor going to Uganda or Tanzania to put an industry today, the governments in those countries will allocate you free land. That is why industrialists are even relocating from Kenya to Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda. In Kenya, the cost of a parcel of land for putting up an industry is about the cost of the industry you want to put up. Very unrealistic prices! If you go to Industrial Area, if you are lucky to get an acre of land, you are told: “Kshs100 million.” Where the hell on earth would you get Kshs100 million to buy an acre of land before you put up your industry? Even if you are going to borrow, would you borrow Kshs100 million to put into unproductive use before you start production? It does not add up. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I agree with hon. Mutava Musyimi that this policy should have Constitutional anchorage, so that we also use the provisions of the Constitution – whether current or the coming Constitution – for the Government to exercise its right to acquire public land. Compulsory acquisitions can be done, even from private individuals, so that we have industrial parks. If an industrialist comes to Kenya and he wants to invest in Kisumu, he can be told: “There is a park here, if you want to put up a factory, how many square metres do you want?” If middlemen and briefcase carriers are busy hawking land to investors, we shall continuously be bypassed by investors. They will go where they will find it easier to invest. They will go to places where land is readily available. Lastly, I want to recognize the Policy’s recognition of customary land rights. A country is as good as its observance of its customs, past and its people. We must make sure that customary land rights are protected. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if customary land rights are not protected, you remember what happened in the last referendum. People started whipping sentiments against the Draft Constitution, sometimes on things that were not true. Everywhere you"
}