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{
    "id": 1296,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1296/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 286,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Mbadi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 110,
        "legal_name": "John Mbadi Ng'ong'o",
        "slug": "john-mbadi"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, it is very clear to me from the Report that there is a lot of confusion in the Government. There is rot in the Ministry of Land and it is high time that the Ministry is fixed. Probably we will ask the Minister and the Government to do what we did with the Electoral Commission of Kenya. We should sweep the whole Ministry, let them go home so that we can have Kenyans who can serve Kenyans well in that Ministry. We cannot continue to have a Ministry which does not know who owns land in this country. Land is such an important resource in this country that we cannot play around with. I know that the Minister for Lands is a reformist and without even waiting for Bills which are supposed to be generated and passed in this House, I would ask the Minister to think of cracking the whip. Some steps would just be administrative. Hiring staff to me is purely administrative. I think if the staff members in the Land Ministry are not ready to serve Kenyans, they should be told to go home. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, even though I can see the recommendations from the joint Committee are that we need to enact a number of laws, I see a problem that some of these laws should be in place by 27th February. We are almost proceeding on a long recess without the laws being brought to this House. I am aware that the relevant Ministry has already generated these Bills. My question is; why can these Bills not be brought to the House so that we debate and pass them with speed? The other question we need to ask ourselves is; why is it that various Government departments or agencies like the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) claim land that they do not protect? This is not only happening in Nairobi. If you go to Mombasa, you will find that the KAA will show you pieces of land that they claim to be theirs but they are not protected at all. I think it is high time that the Government took decisive steps to repossess the land that is owns. Let me come back to those Kenyans who have suffered. I fully agree with the Committee that the Government needs to take full responsibility and compensate these individuals for the loss they have incurred. It is not the responsibility of individuals to determine the legality of the documents they own. It is the responsibility of the Government to ensure that any document, be it a title deed or any other, which is supposed to be a legal document is legal. If we have a system where some unscrupulous individuals go round, conning and deceiving Kenyans, it is still the responsibility of the Government to protect those Kenyans. Whatever happened to these Kenyans, whether they owned genuine title deeds or not, it is the responsibility of the Government to protect their interest. It is also the responsibility of the Government to have warned them when they were constructing. If the demolitions were carried out when they were still laying the foundations, the damage would not have been as much as we saw. The picture that those demolitions gave to this country and the negative publicity is something that may not be easily repaired. We cannot “cure” it even by passing this Report. Investors have been discouraged from coming to this country because, if today you are given a title deed and tomorrow you are told that the title deed is fake, then how will you have confidence to invest in such a country? Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I also want to talk to Kenyans who are in the habit of grabbing every available space in this country. It is wrong and immoral. They are few and not many. We need to get these people and charge them. If we do not haves stiff laws or severe laws which can deter these Kenyans from grabbing every available land, I think this House needs to seriously think about coming up with laws which would deter those of us who would be encouraged to grab pieces of land. People have become very rich in this land and they are proud of the wealth that they have acquired by grabbing pieces of land. These are not poor people. People grab forest land, play grounds, schools land and it is unethical. This also includes cemeteries. This includes even church leaders."
}