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{
    "id": 153142,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/153142/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 399,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dr. Oburu",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 194,
        "legal_name": "Oburu Ngona Odinga",
        "slug": "oburu-odinga"
    },
    "content": " Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, thank you for saving me. The land policies in this country have not been quite right in the sense that, if you come to a City like Nairobi, you will find that half an acre of land is going for Kshs800 million. That is because the land policies in this country allow for cost speculation. People acquire letters of allotment which state that the land should be developed within a period of two years. Within six months, one is supposed to have submitted plans for the development of the land. You will find that people get those letters of allotment and they are used to sell the land to speculators before the land is developed. You will find that there are huge tracts of land which are lying idle. That is fertile agricultural land which has high potential for production and yet, we still have a food shortage in this country. We are a food deficit country when we have huge tracts of land lying idle. There are Kenyans who are capable of developing those pieces of land to produce food, but because they are owned by individuals who keep them for speculation, they are not used for production. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, a comprehensive land policy by the Government is going to address that issue. Those who own those large tracts of land are going to be heavily taxed, so that there is some disincentive to keep large tracts of land when there are Kenyans who are capable of developing those pieces of land for productive purposes. I agree that the squatter problem is very specific. It is a very specific problem and there is no way we can apply the general principles of the general funds to tackle the squatter problem. The issue of squatters is not prevalent in one particular area. It is not an issue of Kitale. It is not an issue of the Rift Valley alone. It is not an issue of Central Province alone. It is not an issue of the Coast Province alone. It is an issue that started from the colonial time, but has continued even in the Independent Kenya."
}