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{
    "id": 1457727,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1457727/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 177,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Ogola",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "I have an example of a market in my ward called Kodumba. In that market, the County Government of Homa Bay collects cess on a daily basis. The painful truth is that that market still stands on private land. It means that the county government is not just. It was, initially, held by the Southern Nyanza County Council before Homa Bay County Government took over. The pain is that people that hold the freehold title of Kodumba Market are still alive. They have sought for justice and looked for compensation, but the county government goes on to collect cess and it is assumed that it is public land. That is why I support this Bill. All land that is presumed public must have been compensated for. That is a historical injustice. Secondly, I have a painful story of one senior teacher we lost in Ndhiwa Town called Mwalimu Ogutu Aroka. We lost him because he could not see his land being used as part of the town without his family being compensated adequately. He went from court to court. The sad story is that we later lost him out of the distress that was caused by the long journey of court cases. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, land was given by our people. Some of it was compulsorily acquired, bought and some of it the Government or the county councils committed to pay. However, in some of these areas, you cannot even trace the records of compensation and people keep on asking for their compensation. A third example is the Sindo Grounds that was proposed as a sub-county headquarters some time back. It is land that is over 500 acres. Compensation is still an issue. The other issue I would like to bring up is that public land is set aside for particular usage; that while at adjudication, the Adjudication Department was setting aside public land and it could not have been just set for any use. There is land set aside for schools, hospitals and water boreholes. The painful scenario we have in our communities is that some of the parcels of land set aside for public use were grabbed by some other people for their personal use. This is why I support this Amendment. Once land is registered, then ownership is definite and we will be cutting down the aspects of land grabbing. The other painful bit about issues of land in this country is that adjudication is not completed for large chunk of land areas. The other day, we were in Senate Mashinani in Turkana. As the Committee on Lands, Environment and Natural Resources, it was very painful that a half of that county is still land that is not adjudicated. I think that is an injustice to the people of Turkana. In setting up the National Land Commission (NLC) in 2010, it was spelt out that adjudication would be completed in 10 years. Sometimes, I think it is intentional that there are people who do not want adjudication to be completed because they do not want all land in this country to be registered. Once land is registered, it will have title deeds and so it will stop the abuse of the freehold lands. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we should ensure that the adjudication process is completed in this country. Also in my own county, it is amazing that the whole of Mfangano Island remains adjudicated. Therefore, such an incomplete adjudication process is what leads to conflict amongst members of the community because they are The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and AudioServices, Senate."
}