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{
    "id": 153020,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/153020/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 277,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, when you look at the history of squatters in this country, it is a sad history. It is a history that goes back to the 18th century and through the 19th Century, when colonialists visited the African Continent. That is when they came in the guise of civilizing and bringing light to the dark Continent. Before they came, African communities lived in brotherhood. The Africans lived communally, owned property communally and took care of each other. That was the essence of the African way of life; to take care of the less fortunate, the poor, the weak, the old, the young and the disabled. That was the essence of the African way of life. It was a family where one was the other’s brother’s keeper. That changed when the colonialists came to this country. When the colonialists came, they disrupted the African way of life. They subjugated the Africans. They enslaved, conquered and eventually forced Africans into forced labour and they called them squatters. That is because all the land, particularly the white highlands, became mzungu’s land and the Africans who lived thereon, became squatters squatting; on others land and unwanted persons. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, after the colonialists left this country, little was done at Independence to actually address the problem of squatters. Indeed, what the British did was to ensure that the white settlers, as they left this country, received some form of compensation. The British organized the Settlement Trustee Fund (STF) and money was availed through the Government of the Republic of Kenya to actually allow those who were able to take loans to buy the land. What was created was for those who could afford. Those were the people who could access STF. Land was transferred from the British colonialists to the Africans on a willing-buyer willing-seller basis and yet, when this land was taken from the Africans, it was not on a willing-buyer willing-seller basis. It was as to who was more powerful. There were those that were armed with guns and those that had only arrows and spears. It was an unfair contest and it was an unequal kind of fight. Therefore, there was no fairness or justice in this case."
}