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{
    "id": 1454,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1454/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 444,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Orengo",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Lands",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 129,
        "legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
        "slug": "james-orengo"
    },
    "content": "“where there are squatters on private land, a forceful eviction is not the option.” The option that the National Land Policy has adopted is that there should be negotiations between the private owners and squatters in cases of squatters’ settlements. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, this is because of the history of Kenya as it is. Many Kenyans, especially at the Coast Province and in the urban areas, because of the land policies that existed in the past, live either in slums or informal settlements. This National Land Policy is saying that in such instances, even if there is a court order, that should not happen. I see all this is being directed to the Ministry of Lands. I can tell you the situations I have been dealing with where courts have issued orders for eviction and directed the police to forcefully evict squatters on settlements. I can give many cases where I have taken a position that they cannot be moved forcefully and actually visited some of these areas. If hon. Gunda was here, he would tell you that there was a piece of land where there was no controversy as to who it belonged to because it belonged to an individual who had got a court order and had orders directing the police to forcefully evict those who were living on that land. I took measures to ensure that there were negotiations between the private land owner and the squatters. The agreement was for him to surrender part of his land to the squatters, so that there would be no other forcefully evictions. That was settled. The National Land Policy again on the same page 51, provides for the facilitation of the regularization of existing squatter settlements found on public and community land for purposes of upgrading or development. If squatters are found on public land, we should find a way of regularizing that squatter settlement and not to evict them. I can give the example of the Kenya Railways where they wanted to evict squatters in many areas in Mombasa, including Bangladesh. I made an intervention and told the Kenya Railways that they cannot evict them until we made a determination where these individuals were going to go. Indeed, I wrote a circular to all the Ministers who were presiding over parastatals which wanted to sell public land that they would not be allowed to sell public land. I think this is important from what I have heard that they do not have the option of selling public land that has been given to them. If they do not need it, the answer is to bring it back into the public pool, so that the Government can then allocate it to more appropriate purposes but they do not have the option to sell that public land. That is already good law. For example, in the Kenya Airports Authority Act, the Kenya Railways Corporation Act and in the Kenya Aviation Authority Act; there are provisions which state very clearly that they cannot sell public land without the consent of the line Minister and the consent of the Minister for Lands. In the past, even as late as two or three years ago, they were in a habit of selling the land without making sufficient consultations. One of the reasons why we are having a lot of problems is that a lot of public land belongs to civic authorities. Civic authorities have more land than all Government land put together. Where there are allocations to public land, you will find that most of them have been done through local authorities and Syokimau is one of the instances where---"
}