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"id": 188515,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/188515/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Wamalwa",
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"speaker": {
"id": 148,
"legal_name": "Eugene Ludovic Wamalwa",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I also wish to support the Ministry's Vote and take this opportunity to congratulate the Minister for being appointed to this very key Ministry. The Minister is someone I have known for so many years. I have the greatest respect for him as both a senior colleague in the legal profession and a leader who is reform minded as well as someone who has fought for social justice and democracy in this country. He has joined the Ministry at a time when the Ministry needs a lot of reforms. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am glad that he also has a Permanent Secretary who is a lawyer. I say so, because, having practised for many years, I have known the problems at the Lands Office, first-hand. So, I believe that with this new leadership in office, we will get the reforms that we have waited for, for a long time. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, looking at what has been allocated for this key Ministry in this year's Budget, it is clear that the amount is not enough, and something needs to be done. I think the Ministry's request for Kshs5.6 billion was reasonable. The allocation of Kshs2.3 billion, compared with the work that is at hand, clearly, is not sufficient. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, looking at the history of this country right from Independence, land has been the issue that has caused bloodshed in this country. Years after Independence, in 1992, 1997 and recently, in 2007, we have had clashes. We have had turmoil in this country. It was not just as a result of the general election outcome. Land was at the heart of everything. It is a God-given resource to this country. At the time of Independence, we were only eight million Kenyans. Many years down the line, 45 years later, we are over 37 million Kenyans. The population of this country has continued to grow, but the land has remained the same, which calls for necessary reforms. Land, being a limited resource, will always be a source of conflict. So, having reformists in the Ministry of Lands, we expect a lot from them. We also expect that they will be given the necessary support and funding to enable them push through the necessary reforms. I was glad to know that the Minister had already embarked on reforms, but after many years I thought that I would have disagreed with him for the first time when, after taking office, the first reform he undertook was to increase the search fee from Kshs100 to about Kshs3,000. I am glad that the Minister heard the outcry of Kenyans, and that the directive was withdrawn. Still, that does not change the need for the reforms. Because of the state of our registries, we urgently need a computerisation process, on which we must support the Ministry, to ensure that 2072 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 23, 2008 the situation is improved, and the keeping of our records, which are very key in terms of ownership, is secured. Unless you have a title deed, then you do not own the land that you live on. Therefore, with computerization and re-organization of our district registries across the country, we are going to have improvement in both the expeditious processing and issuance of title deeds, and security in terms of keeping the document secure. We have had an increase in the number of districts. This afternoon I was asking the Ministry about Trans Nzoia District. At Independence it was one district but today there are three districts. There is Trans Nzoia West, Trans Nzoia East and Kwanza District. This calls for the creation of new district registries. For Trans Nzoia alone, we will need three to cover the new districts created. However, looking at the Budget for this year, you find that we are still dealing with one Trans Nzoia; we have one registry serving three districts. When you look at the allocation made--- I had raised the issue earlier that Trans Nzoia has not been allocated anything. We do know that funds are limited at the Ministry, but something needs to be done. Our neighbours in Eldoret East have been allocated Kshs52 million, and nothing has been allocated to Trans Nzoia. I think this is something that we need to address, especially in view of the fact that many farms in Trans Nzoia do not have title deeds. Going by the information supplied to the House this afternoon, we have over 10,000 parcels of land in Trans Nzoia without title deeds. If we have about 100 people living on every parcel of land, those are very many Kenyans who do not have title deeds and, therefore, cannot access funding through the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC), the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) and other institutions. This directly affects the national food security of this nation. If we are not able to increase the productivity to enable farmers access finance and produce more--- I am not only talking about Trans Nzoia but the entire nation, because this is the bread basket of Kenya."
}