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{
    "id": 1412251,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1412251/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 235,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kikuyu, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Kimani Ichung’wah",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " I said a senior police officer who has the capacity and ability to command other officers. That tells you it is from the rank of a Sergeant, an Officer Commanding a Police Station (OCS), an Officer in Charge of Police in a District (OCPD), a County Commander, a Regional Commander, a Deputy Inspector-General or an Inspector-General. I did not name anybody, and I am not at liberty at this stage to do so, so as not to jeopardise the ongoing investigations. I know the owners of the land are preparing to petition this House when the investigations are over, and we shall name them. This Administration, under President William Ruto, does not condone theft of public land by whoever; whether you are a police officer or a chief. Yesterday in my constituency, I had to intervene on a certain case: An Assistant Chief had grabbed land belonging to 130 squatters and subdivided it among seven members. I thank the area Deputy County Commissioner for quickly intervening to ensure that the people of Ruanyaga get back their rightful share. Once we restore the powers under Sections 14 and 15 of the National Land Commission Act, the NLC will use this to safeguard a lot of public land in many counties. An example is Kiambaa Constituency in Kiambu County, where you will not find a single piece of public land – not even a half an acre – on which to implement the affordable housing agenda. The Government of Kenya has this opportunity to actualise the affordable housing agenda and ensure that grabbed public land is restored back to the public. You have seen many people across the country crying foul when the national Government moved to repossess land. The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development needs not fight with anybody but just give or issues of grabbed public land to the NLC. The Commission will have powers to revoke those titles and evict those occupying public land, and then we can then implement affordable housing projects on the land. That is the case in many of our urban centres, and not just in Nairobi City County. Before the Leader of the Minority Party rose on a point of order, I was saying that you saw the Cabinet Secretary of Lands being stopped from accessing land by a group of goons in Loresho the other day. She went to help a private citizen whose land was being grabbed. It is not by accident that all these things touch on the police and are happening in Nairobi. It is not by accident. I have taken liberty to speak to it because I hear many people in Nairobi are threatened not to talk about it. We shall talk about it here. To the officer abusing his powers to grab land in Nairobi, your day is coming. In Kiswahili they say siku za mwizi ni arubaini. The 40th day is coming. We, as an institution and as leaders, must play a part in ensuring that we empower our institutions. There is no better institution to empower other than an independent constitutional commission created by our Constitution of 2010. I agree with those who have argued and subscribed to the idea that the particular provisions giving them a timeframe of five years was, indeed, unconstitutional. On the hindsight, it is only up to this House to correct that anomaly. Therefore, I support this Bill. I congratulate the Member of Kilifi North, who is also the Deputy Leader of the Majority Party, for bringing it to the House and giving life to Sections 14 and 15 of the National Land Commission Act once more. I support."
}