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{
    "id": 1186609,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1186609/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 415,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Central Imenti, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Moses Kirima",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker. First and foremost, I take this opportunity to support this Motion by my friend, Hon. Ferdinard Wanyonyi. This Motion is timely because as stated in Article 60 of the Constitution, there are a number of things which ought to have been done at the time when the 2010 Constitution was promulgated. Some legislations should have been done by this Parliament to regulate land tenure and land use in Kenya. Hon Temporary Speaker, currently, Kenya is facing food scarcity and this is not attributed to the lack of land needed for cultivation. The problem we now have is land use, where land which is fertile enough for production of food is lying idle. It is not in use because the same land is owned by people we call telephone farmers. Most of them live in Nairobi and are not using that land for the benefit of Kenyans. If you go to developed countries like Germany, Belgium and those others in Europe and parts of America, you will find that there are large tracts of arable land which is being used for production of food. The citizens of those countries live in well programmed settlements that have all the amenities necessary for human existence. You will find shopping malls and residential areas which are supplied with electricity, sewerage system, adequate water and all the amenities that are necessary for good human habitation. The rest of the land is commercially used to produce enough food for their consumption. They get extra food to sell or even export. That earns them foreign currency. We should provide for registration as is required in Article 60 of the Constitution. I tend to think that there will be a Bill following this Motion. We are going to come up with regulations and other orders therein that stipulate how to use land and even prescribe the size of land one is supposed to own. If one has one big tract of land that is not utilised, what can he pay the Government? The land cannot just be lying idle without being used commercially to benefit Kenyans. Such land should earn the Government revenue. Members here have those pieces of land which are just lying idle because they have the power to purchase them. If you go to Meru, you will find large tracts of land that are not in use especially all the way from Laikipia to the other side of Meru, namely, Embu. What is the Government earning out of those big tracts of land? If you traverse the whole area up to Isiolo and Garissa, you will see large tracks of land owned by individuals. What is the Government earning out of it? As proposed by this Motion, if things are put in place, it is my belief that those pieces of land will be of benefit to Kenyans. The tax paid for having those big tracks of land is going to benefit even the small man who does not have a source of income in Kenya. That is what is The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}