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{
    "id": 153081,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/153081/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 338,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Kigen",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 44,
        "legal_name": "Luka Kipkorir Kigen",
        "slug": "luka-kigen"
    },
    "content": "Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, when it comes to settling the landless, it is a very important challenge that we need to address carefully. All along since Independence, there has been settlement of people named as landless or squatters in various places of our country. When you look at the format of doing it, it has been very discouraging because those who implement it have been basically giving land to people related to those in power or those who have “connections” instead of looking at people honestly and giving the genuine squatters a chance to own land. I have an example when people were being given forest land. If you were not related to a particular individual or if you did not support certain people politically, you could not own land in the settlement schemes. That happened before the year 2000. This Motion is so timely and should be able to address that concern. If land is going to be bought from those who have big land, squatters who should benefit should be those from that vicinity and not from other areas. When you go to the Rift Valley and especially Rongai where I come from, you will find huge parcels of land owned by people who do not live there. In fact, there is no much activity there. The workers on that land are squatters but the owners live far away in equally other big parcels of land. This brings us to a stage where we should be able to think about bringing another law to determine how much land should be owned by an individual. Most arable land in this country is owned by very few rich people while the majority of the people own a fraction of land in areas which are not arable. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we have just been told by one hon. Member that two people own a whole Division between Naivasha and Nakuru. If you come to Rongai, you will find somebody who owns close to half a Division. If that land was properly utilized and put into productivity, then we would not even be spending money buying food from outside. Therefore, we should come to a position where we should define how much land an individual should own. If somebody is going to own so much land and he is not using it to the best of his ability, yet there are people who work on that"
}