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"content": "of those particular communities on the issues of land within the areas where those particular communities live. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have another category of private land. Private land is not just land that is held absolutely, but it refers to land which is owned in terms of a lease which is derived currently under the Government Lands Act, the Registration of Titles Act, the Land Titles Act, the Registered Land Act, the Trust Land Act and the Sectional Properties Act. What we want to do is to harmonize these systems of land ownership, so that instead of having these many systems of land ownership or land tenure, we have one system. This is for a very good reason, because right now - because our records are not computerized, they are manual and because of lack of efficiency - you will find that the same piece of land may be registered under various statutes. Of course, that has led to the problems that you know quite a lot about, the same piece of land may have more than one title deed. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the most important area that I would want to deal with now is the systems of tenure which are characterized as freehold and leasehold granted on public land. The Government is the land owner and we have various categories of tenure. It is important that this system of tenure is rationalized. For example, we have people who came to this country - I am saying this not with the intention of not protecting those particular interests - but those who have read our history know that, when Kenya became what it is today, when it became a protectorate and the railway line was built, there was an attempt to attract settlers to come to this country. At that time, people like Lord Delamere found that not so many people were enticed from England to come to Kenya. They preferred going to the Americas, Australia, although in an earlier term, some had gone to Australia as convicts and they preferred going to South Africa. Therefore, Lord Delamere and others suggested to the then colonial government that in order to attract white settlers to come to this country, we had to give them freehold titles or long leases; some which were as good as giving out the land in perpetuity - for 999 years or 9,999 years, which was as good as 10,000 years. That means that we may have a Kenyan like Ms. Odhiambo there who may own some land. However, her ownership to it is very limited. But you may have a foreigner who owns part of Kenya for 10,000 years or 1,000 years and there is nothing you can do about it. Whether they farm on it or use it as a play ground, there is nothing you can do about it. You have to understand the circumstances under which they were given those long leases during the colonial times. Indeed, in most of the meetings that I have attended, the latest was in Porto, where the subject was not about land as such but on land use, many people were shocked that in Kenya, public land can be given out for more than 99 years. That is a unique thing in Kenya in modern times. On private land, or land that Mutava Musyimi may be owning on the basis of what he got from his ancestors, we will not interfere with it. He can own it in perpetuity. Your grand children and your grand childrenâs children can still own it. However, when it is public land, the tenure must be 99 years or less, but with a right of renewal. If you can demonstrate that you are doing something useful with that land, then there will be a Clause to renew the lease. It should not be understood that we are trying to expropriate individuals. All we are saying is that, in relation to public land, which we do not have in abundance, those leases should be for a limited period so that if there is any person who is occupying Government land, we can access it so that the public can use it."
}