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{
"id": 188526,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/188526/?format=api",
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "[The Minister for Lands]",
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"speaker": {
"id": 129,
"legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
"slug": "james-orengo"
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"content": "that those who have the privilege of getting public land must put it to good use. If you cannot, then you surrender it back to the Government. If you do not want to surrender it, then you will have to pay tax on it. Imagine you own property, including land or a house in Nairobi. If your tenant does not pay rent, you go to court or you use other systems of making sure that he is evicted and you recover the house and give it to somebody else. But some people expect that when you get Government land, then you should be able to sit on it forever. One of the things that I am going to urge the officers I am working with in the Ministry of Lands is that, even in areas where we give out land for agricultural activity, we must put conditions there. At the end of the day, if a developer is not able to accomplish the project, or if he gets into financial trouble, that land should not be all locked up in litigation with the banks as the local community suffer as a consequence of large tracts of land having been given out, like we have seen in the cases of sugar factories like Miwani, Ramisi and others. Developers have come in and they used land as collateral, made some money and ran away. The banks, therefore, have to secure their interests. The local communities who initially made the land available cannot access it. There are so many issues that came up during the debate. Although I may not be able to respond to each and every point that was raised by the hon. Members, I intend to approach those particular Members of Parliament to ensure that I address some of the issues that they have raised during the debate. One of the issues that came out from many hon. Members is the question of equity, particularly the Development Expenditure. Some felt that only a few districts or areas got an allocation. Of course, many hon. Members have understood the fact that these allocations were very inadequate. I think in the Development Vote, we had hardly about Kshs700 million to cater for everything in all the districts. We have new districts which have been created. In those districts, we do not have any physical structures or offices. So, some of the monies which are meant for particular districts have been allocated to those districts where we have physical facilities. They will be managed, for purposes of accounting, from those districts where we have offices or structures from which to operate. That point should be understood. It is not that we have overlooked or discriminated against any particular district. There are also new districts which have been created, but we do not have any officers as yet posted to them. So, we cannot allocate money where we do not have offices and people on the ground. We have still to continue to manage the affairs of the Ministry and the various departments from where we have physical structures, offices and manpower. For example, an issue was raised about some of the districts that seem to be getting a lot of money, like Bondo, Siaya and Eldoret. In Eldoret, we have a very terrible and tragic situation. The lands offices in Eldoret were grabbed by a particular individual. The matter has been in court and our officials are being evicted from the land offices. We have accessed land in Eldoret. We may have a district, but it still cannot justify the kind of money that is being allocated to it. We may find that in some of these districts, for example, Eldoret, there is so much activity. We need to build an office. Land was available and a bill of quantities had already been presented. Therefore, it is important that those offices are built. In Bondo and Siaya districts, this request came early. There was an issue where title deeds were valuable, but people could not collect them because of distances. I do not think that it is a unique situation in those two districts. Other districts are also deserving cases. But these were two July 23, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 2079 districts where a lot more had to be done on the ground in terms of availability of land. The officers on the ground together with our officers had advance plans for the construction of offices in those particular districts. In Thika District, the situation is very bad. We have a very small registry, yet it is a busy station. Therefore, it was necessary to allocate money for the construction of new offices. One other example is the Meru Provincial Headquarters in Eastern Province where the money allocated appears to be high. It is because in Embu Town, we are paying rent. We are not residing in our own premises. We are paying rent of about Kshs96,000 per annum. We have now been allocated a Government residential house to convert it into an office. An amount of Kshs490,000 has been allocated for refurbishment of the building. A further sum of Kshs60,000 has been allocated for power installation. Under the office of the Commissioner for Lands, we are operating in 47 districts. They are spread out in the following manner. In Nyanza Province, we have got nine. In Western and Rift Valley provinces, we have four and 13, respectively. In Central Province, we have six, while in Eastern and North Eastern provinces, we have nine and one, respectively. We intend to open an office in Garissa. In the Coast Province, we have five. But in this financial year, we intend to open offices in Nyando, Mandera, Isiolo and Naivasha. This is all that we could do in terms of the limited resources that we have. But we intend to strengthen the existing stations with senior staff. We also need to strengthen offices in neighbouring districts which have offices to serve the districts that have no offices. But in the medium-term plan, we intend to open 33 new district land offices. I can assure this House that when that time comes, we will try as much as possible to make sure that all this is spread out to ensure that there is equity, which was a theme that those who contributed dealt with. Regarding the allowances for Land Control Boards and Land Adjudication District Tribunals, the Treasury has availed Kshs36 million to clear the outstanding allowances. We hope that, in future, we will be able to keep these tribunals running. If they are not paid allowances, then they cannot do their work. They must be empowered. To that extent, I want to point out to the hon. Members that we want them to take part in constituting some of these tribunals, more particularly, the Land Control Boards. We should not leave it to the Provincial Administration. But even while we are involved, take care in the sense that we need people who actually can do that work. This is because land is a very important resource. We must make sure that we appoint women in these Land Control Boards. In fact, in areas where there were women in the Land Control Boards, you will find that not so many people were able to sell family land. They would be able to question. We find that there are many women in certain communities who become landless because men decide to sell land without giving them notice. When they try to invest this money and the investment does not work, they all become landless. As a result, it is the women and children who suffer most. I hope that the question of resettlement will be looked at for purposes of the next financial year. This is because one of the things that keep on getting requests nearly on a daily basis, is resettlement. We do not have money for resettlement in this allocation, yet it is such an important issue. We are talking about Mau Forest, Coast, Rift Valley, Eastern, Nyanza and Western provinces. There is need for funds for resettlement. I hope that when we modernise our systems, we are going to be able to deal with professional squatters or people who are landless for ever. In every resettlement scheme, you will find them registered as being landless. However, not only have I received demands for resettlement from all over the country but this time round, we are also getting people who are willing to sell chunks of land particularly in the Coast and Rift Valley provinces. These are people who are ready to sell land even at reasonable prices. However, we do not have the money to buy the land. 2080 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 23, 2008 Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, finally, I want to say that without a national land policy we are not going to get anywhere. Ever since this country became independent, as I mentioned in my earlier remarks, we have never had a national land policy. Yet, in the fight and struggle for Independence one of the important features during the Lancaster debate was the issue of land. Indeed, there was delay in attaining Independence because of the two issues; land and human rights. By the way, if you go to the Lancaster House records, you would find that it is the minority communities who really insisted that the land question had to be resolved at that conference. This included the Maasai Democratic Front. Even when it came to the question of human rights, it was the minority communities in this country who stood up on these two issues whereas the majority of the delegates thought that with Independence everything was possible. Down the line, we do not have a national land policy. For the last 40 years, human rights questions have been part of our problem. Therefore, this Parliament should go down in history as a Parliament which made the difference. On the areas of human rights, we are always bombarded with issues of human rights. We have had a constitution with the Bill of Rights. We have legislation and bodies like the Kenya National Human Rights Commission (KHRC) which are based primarily on human rights issues. On the question of land, we have not moved an inch from 1963. This is the issue that will make a difference for this particular Parliament. The 10th Parliament must speak openly and loudly for the need to have a national land policy. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with a national land policy and land use policy, issues like those of the Mau Forest would never have arisen. Even the officers in the Ministry of Lands who were part of the problem in so far as the Mau Complex is concerned, would have known that there is a policy that firmly puts the Mau Complex as an area restricted for conservation and forest land. I hope that despite the many voices of dissent which are coming too late in the day, this Parliament will live up to its historical duties in ensuring that we have a national land policy. With those few remarks, I beg to move."
}