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{
    "id": 1457776,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1457776/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 226,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Wamatinga",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13582,
        "legal_name": "Wahome Wamatinga",
        "slug": "wahome-wamatinga"
    },
    "content": "accountability and governance to ensure that these three Land reports are implemented in the fullest. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I come from Nyeri County. If you travel along the road on your way to Nanyuki, you will find towns called Naromoru and Chaka confined within a very small piece of land, whereas hundreds of acres were illegally acquired by powerful individuals and they remain in their hands, while the people of Naromoru and Chaka Town continue to suffer. Not even a switch system can be constructed because all the land belongs to a few individuals. It is my humble submission to all Kenyans that we must start looking at things differently. We know how most of these big tycoons acquired the land. Unfortunately, these are people who are politically connected. After we got money, which was meant for Africanization after the fall of the colonial Government, we know that most of these people got money that Kenyans paid for and acquired this large fraction of land. Kenyans are now suffering because they have no place to expand their towns. There must be a policy that is quite purposeful in addressing this issue. It is the high time we came up with a unified physical land policies that ensure that some people are not disadvantaged because they were born at the wrong time, in the wrong families and they did not have the right political connections. As I stand here, I am a sad father because I have two Generation Z in the house. We are able to address some of the issues they are raising if only we have political goodwill. It is quite unfortunate that one single family owns almost a third of Kenya. Ask how they got the land. If you look at the way most of land transactions are conducted, they leave many glaring questions as to how the money was acquired. If we do a forensic audit of how money was acquired, you will see most of these transactions are not above board. I also take this opportunity in supporting this Bill to say it is an eye-opener that leads to the question of what must be done. It is not a question if it should be done, but what must be done and when it will be done. If it is not now, it must be done now. This is because we have created unfair ground for competition among the business people. There are some people you are not able to compete with because land is one of the most lucrative collateral in the bank, and if you are born in the wrong family, then you own no piece of land. It is quite unfortunate. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, indeed, we must also ask the question what happens to leased land once it expires? As the Senator for Nyeri County, I was sad when I came to learn that a certain piece of land whose leasehold has expired was divided among a few beneficiaries and sold. This must come to a stop. It is high time we call out the NLC and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC). They must take up such matters. How does land move ownership from Government to private, and then it is subdivided? We must also come up with policy on subdivision of land. You know there is what has been spoken about here, the Maguta Maguta plots, where plots of 50 by 80 are subdivided in a large tract of land, which does not even leave space for physical and social amenities. If we do not address that issue today, we will continue having slums and poor urban planning. We must be deliberate, intentional, purposeful, and most importantly, controlled. 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."
}