HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 118589,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/118589/?format=api",
"text_counter": 267,
"type": "other",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you look at history, most of the revolutions, indeed, almost all revolutions which have taken place on earth, they were about land. Look at the Mexican, the Russian, the Chinese, the Cuban revolutions and even the anti-colonial revolutions which took place in this continent; they were about land redistribution. Even what we fought about last in this country, the PEV, I want to agree with out sister, Mrs. Shebesh, it was not so much about elections. It was about underlying land issues which have remained unresolved since the colonial period. So, we are happy about this Policy Paper because it is focusing on those issues which we have traditionally ignored regarding land and which are likely to be more explosive even as we go into the future. Land is a scare commodity and unlike all scarce commodities, it is valuable and that is why people fight for it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the greatest innovation that we see in this Policy Paper is the Land Commission. I think this title, âImperial Presidencyâ is much more felt about land. When you hear somebody has sat in an office somewhere and given you a piece of land in an area he himself has never been, you are given a letter allocating you plots in Garissa, Mandera and other areas of this country, which some of those people have never been to, I think that is the most painful thing to Kenya. We have converted land into a political commodity; something for rewarding your political supporters and reprieving you political enemies. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, these issues we are dealing with today, the Mau issue, all these unplanned development we see in Nairobi and other areas, were because of this policy emanating from that imperial presidency. I know I have been accused in sections of the media for supporting the imperial presidency. I want to clarify to my colleagues and, indeed, the whole country that I do not support the Imperial Presidency. We have been in the struggle for many years with my colleagues like hon. James Orengo - I can see the pastor there â it was because of the tyranny that we experienced as a result of the imperial presidency. We need very clear authority in this country which could come either from hands of the Prime Minister or the President. But we also need regulated authority; controlled and accountable authority. Given our fragile democracy, we cannot afford to play too much with dispersed centers of power which might later bring conflict amongst us. That is what I have been saying. The Land Commission will resolve the issues of land distribution within that imperial system. Land will no longer be distributed through political patronage. Land will be given through the District Lands Boards to those who deserve. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to support that departure from one of the greatest political problems we have experienced in this country. The policy paper addresses some of the most sensitive land issues since Independence. If you read parliamentary proceedings of 1960, you will see very fiery speeches being made from this Table by the late Bildad Kaggia. I think Mr. Kaggiaâs argument was that the whole basis for the struggle for independence was that the white men had stolen land from us. Therefore, when after Independence we were told that we had to buy the land from the same people, Mr. Kaggia asked: âAre we now recognizing those people? How can we buy our own land from the thieves?â I think because of asking that difficult question, all political forces were mobilized against him and you know the kind of death that the man had."
}