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"id": 1337458,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1337458/?format=api",
"text_counter": 385,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Kesses, UDA",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Julius Rutto",
"speaker": null,
"content": "In my view, we are at the moment facing a lot of challenges. In my constituency, Kesses, we have an upcoming residential area in Eldoret called Annex. This is a huge chuck of land. The company sub-divided the land for the purpose of disposing it of when it was time for them to exit. The people who participated in that sub-division decided to hide the public utility which was meant to provide services like security, learning institutions, markets and public administration for purposes of service delivery. We are now faced with difficulties in managing the situation. This is a town area and there is no land to buy in the first place. The situation is dire. There is need for security and to build schools for the children of the area residents. The people who administered the specific parcel of land knowingly, after sub-division, provided it for public use as far as the Physical and Land Use Planning Act dictates. But because of the unscrupulous minds and the fact that nobody in the public sector had shown interest in the land, it has gone. We now have a challenge. Learning from this, it is high time we caused the State Department for Lands and Physical Planning to initiate a process of undertaking a rapid response initiative (RRI) to register every existing public utility. Even if the land has many challenges, no land in this country has no title, be it a title for a mega land under LR or under NR or lease. Whatever it is, every land has its own information. Whenever we come across a particular parcel of land that belongs to a public institution, it should be protected so that it is not misused. If that is not done, the original interest may be taken up by a third-party and that will result in a challenge thereafter. For example, most of the public schools that we fund using NG-CDF are going through a lot of challenges in terms of changes to boundaries because of scarcity of land or because of people driven by negative motive of trying to take over what belongs to the public. I call upon the State Department for Lands and Physical Planning, as they do their budget, to deliberately and intentionally focus on titling every existing public utility, starting with primary schools, secondary schools, tertiary colleges and forests so that in future, people do not trespass or encroach public utilities, which becomes a challenge thereafter. Can we manage this problem? It looks like issues of land will be there for ever. As long as people are born and population increases, land challenges will still exist for the foreseeable future. So, why can we not use this moment and opportunity, as a House, to pass laws that will deal with these issues? Additionally, let the executors take up their role. The problem we face is the aspect of collusion. All these troubles we are going through are because of collusion. In fact, the Departmental Committee on Lands need to up their game on oversight. Most challenges, like the issue with the Portland land, arise from the Ministry of Lands. If you analyse the situation, where did the title that was used to dupe people come from? It came from the Ministry of Lands. Those are the people who facilitated the process. Let us learn from this issue so that we can fix the issue of land once and for all, more so where public utilities are concerned. I am a Christian. Jesus said that if you send the devil away and it comes back and finds an empty space, it will come back with seven other demons. Sometimes we should not blame people when they find bare land that can be used. They get into it and use it for economic activities. Once someone stays on a piece of land for more than 10 years, how do you ask that person to move out? How do you say the person does not own the land yet they have been there for 10 years without anyone asking any question? If the land had been registered before, no one would have any reason or justification to move into it. That would amount to trespass. And there are legal provisions that protect against trespass. I submit my support to this particular amendment. We must relook at the land issue in terms of legislation. I also encourage the Senate to introduce Bills that support county governments. As we speak, I do not know what has happened in Eldoret where I come from. All of a sudden, there is a lot of land grabbing left, right and centre. The other day we saw someone building on a whole street of open land reserved for service delivery. Who is this 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."
}