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"id": 184434,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/184434/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Orengo",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Lands",
"speaker": {
"id": 129,
"legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
"slug": "james-orengo"
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"content": " Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I wish to second this Motion. It has been competently moved by hon. Mudavadi. I wish to commend him, first, for taking charge of such an important Ministry. We know that the Minister is up to the task. He is used to running large Ministries, having been in charge of the Treasury and the Ministry of Agriculture. So, I think he will be largely up to the task. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, first, I want to point out one or two things in regard to the local authorities as a whole. Local authorities are very important institutions of Government. They must be run not only democratically - because that is the basis upon which they are formed as local authorities - but, in managing their affairs, they must respect the rule of law. As we look October 14, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2681 forward to the establishment of a new constitutional order where the local authorities are going to have even more important functions, it is important that, even at this early stage, we keep on reminding those who run local authorities that they have got very important responsibilities. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, one of the areas that I think there should be improvements in the running of the local authorities, second only to the Government. In fact, if one was to look at it critically, the local authorities put together as a whole, are responsible for the largest chunks of land in this country. All trust lands, in accordance with the Constitution, are vested on local authorities. They have powers, in accordance with the Trust Lands Act and the Constitutions, to alienate trust lands. But they can only do that on the basis that the Constitution itself and the Trust Land Act states that all the trust lands in the Republic of Kenya are held for the benefit of the local communities. So, if the land in the Coast is under the charge of the local authority and it is not Government land, the local authority must ensure that, that land is managed for the benefit of the local communities. I am using the word \"community\" broadly. It does not just talk about the people who are native to those areas. It talks about people who are ordinarily residents in those areas. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, from what I have seen, many pieces of land that have been grabbed have been grabbed through local authorities. Local authorities have been making it possible for people to take large chunks of important land and use them for purposes of speculation. In this regard, I do not want to just blame councillors. As a matter of fact, county councils cannot by themselves alienate public land. They can only do so, with the support of either the Central Government or some other higher authority. I would, therefore, at this time, when the issue of public land is so critical, ask my brother, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government, to ensure that all local authorities do not give out public land without following laid down procedures. They should give it out only in the manner set out under the Trust Land Act and the Constitution. Indeed, there are instances where people have managed to sponsor meetings of county councils purely for the purposes of ensuring that they get pieces of land within those local authorities. It is important that, that does not take place again. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I want to suggest to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government that although it is not in the law, it is important to keep Members of Parliament informed. Local authorities should have the practice of informing Members of Parliament of particular areas when they desire to give out public land because then, there would be a basis for questioning or interrogating any particular allocation. Since Members of Parliament are elected, and they cannot be seen to be acting contrary to the interests of the local communities, it would be a proper safeguard to ensure that trust lands are protected. I am talking from a lot of experience I have seen in a lot of areas where there has been abuse of the roles of those who manage our local authorities. I am sure that if a Member of Parliament was informed and involved, we would be able to control alienation of trust land. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, there are areas in this country where we thought that they are just arid or semi-arid land, without resources, but we are beginning to see a lot of interest in places like Kitui and Makueni districts in Eastern Province; Lamu, at the Coast Province, and even in some parts of North Eastern Province because, suddenly, people have realised that what was considered to be arid or semi-arid land actually has rich resources. Those who know what lies under the ground have already started giving out pieces of public land without adequate consultations with the elected Members of Parliament in those regions. So, I would also ask Members of Parliament to take interest in what local authorities do in relation to giving out public land. Secondly, the time is overdue, and as we await the constitutional review - this is a point 2682 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 14, 2008 which the Minister in charge has reiterated before - we need chairmen and mayors of local authorities to be elected by the people who are resident in those areas. We want to begin to have a situation where if a mayor is elected directly by the people, he will be accountable to the residents of that local authority. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we have had situations where elections of mayors or chairmen of local authorities were conducted like an election of a trade union, where you do not need to consider the interests of the workers. All you need to concern yourself with are the shopstewards and the union officials; so that when you want to be elected as a mayor or a chairman of a local authority, you do not take interest of the local people. All that you do is to congregate councillors and hide them in Zanzibar or Tanzania before the elections. This is the practice. Even though we do not have a constitutional review in place, there are rules, under the Local Government Act in relation to local government elections, that can be changed even now. I know that next year, we will have elections of mayors and chairmen of county councils. So, we should have a protocol for elections of mayors and local authority chairmen. If it is found that, for purposes of an election, a group has been transported to, say, Uganda--- Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, we had a situation in Siaya District, where during an election of mayors and chairmen of local authorities, all the councillors were transported to Kampala to go and hide until the election day. Somebody who has been elected on such basis has got no loyalty or interest in the local community. All that he needs to do is to satisfy the greed of the councillors who elected him to be chairman or mayor. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I am pleading with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Local Government to change the rules even before we have a change of the law, to ensure that elections for mayors and chairmen of local authorities are done like we elected our Speaker in this House. Although we had caucuses, they were not the kind of caucuses that we have seen involving the local authorities. With those few remarks, I beg to second."
}