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{
    "id": 1457775,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1457775/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 225,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wamatinga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13582,
        "legal_name": "Wahome Wamatinga",
        "slug": "wahome-wamatinga"
    },
    "content": "who went into the forest to fight for land came out only to find that the white colonialists had left the country and the black colonialists took over their land. In this Land (Amendment) Bill, we have an opportunity to handle this matter and particularly at this moment when the Gen Zs of this country have told us that we have to look at matters of transparency, accountability, and most importantly, address the historical injustices that have been meted to the Kenyan population, innocently believing that they are protecting their own people. It hurts and makes somebody sad to know that a few individuals own all the prime tracts of land. It is not lost on us that land has become the medium of corruption. Most of the ill-gotten monies and bribes are stashed away. The money is laundered through land transactions. Therefore, as we look at this Amendment, it gives us an opportunity, especially when doing conveyancing, to ask ourselves, where was the money gotten from and how has the transaction been concluded? It is imperative, that we, as legislators, come up with a uniform approach that will ensure that there is a fairness, transparency and accountability in land transactions. As has been said by my colleague here, the Senator for Kakamega, it is indeed very sad that we have three reports that were meant to address some of these injustices, but they lie somewhere collecting dust, as there has been lack of political goodwill to make sure that they are implemented. At this time, when we are facing our sons and daughters in the name of Gen Zs who are calling for accountability and for us to be more transparent, it is the opportune time to ensure that all these reports are implemented to the comma. If we fail to do this or implement these three reports, the oppressed will continue to be oppressed. We have seen whenever a mega project is being implemented; some of the major cost goes into the compensation. There is a talk of the High Grand Falls Dam that is to be constructed in Tharaka Nithi. I tell this House that more than half of the cost is going to compensation. The Thwake Dam in Kitui County has more than half of the cost going into compensation. It may surprise this House that money does not benefit the indigenous people, but those who are able to buy land speculatively and lie low for five years. They wait when the projects are being initiated, and then they reap big money. The Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) Corridor Project that was meant to construct a corridor all the way from Lamu has been stopped and made almost impossible because of the huge amounts of money required to do compensation. A closer look at the beneficiaries will show that very few local people are benefiting. There are Kenyans who have more, surprisingly most of them in the political class who have continued to exploit Kenyans in the name of profiteering. This can be addressed only if we make a policy that whenever there is compensation, non-locals should not be compensated. This is because they have no emotional attachment to the land. They buy it speculatively, hoping that they will be able to collude with the National Land Commission (NLC) to make big money. It is an opportunity for us, following the spirit that is in the country, to advance and enhance 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."
}