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"content": "(Omingo): Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like, right from the outset, to thank the Minister for Lands for truly restoring the sanctity of land titles by actually putting a caveat on the transfer of the Grand Regency Hotel. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have heard before that some of us have not taken land with the seriousness that it deserves. Land, beyond being a natural resource, is a source of capital and a very serious ingredient in terms of wealth creation. That puts land at the centre of everything else. That is the more reason, I stand here to support the Vote of the Ministry of Lands which has asked for Kshs2.2 billion. In my thinking, this is not sufficient, but nonetheless, that is what the Minister has put on the Table. I hope that the next time he brings his budget, we shall be able to give him a little more funding. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, there is something that is cardinal and most important, but most of us have not appreciated it. We need to address the issue of land policy. Land is a cross-cutting issue. Today, if I give you a simple analogy of where I come from, I believe that we require affirmative action in terms of land policy. We have no land today. However, there are some places where people are not utilising land! I am talking about idle land. We need to introduce policies that are going to make people use land for the purpose of creating wealth. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is important that we address the issue of computerisation of 1976 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 22, 2008 land registries. As I went through the Printed Estimates, I realised that the amount set aside for head office operations and overheads may not satisfy the basic essence of networking and having to computerise the land registry. We have had cases of missing files. Every time you go to transact on land, you will find old guys from the rural areas who are kept waiting at the reception. They are told, \"We cannot trace your files.\" In the current age and time, I think it is immoral that anybody should give an excuse of lack of service delivery because of traceability or otherwise of the files. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, where I come from, today, an average land portion per family is less than two acres. It is critical that even as we try to build infrastructure for the people, the type of fragmentation of land in some areas makes it difficult to even run a power line in a village that is not properly designed and planned. It is high time we addressed the land policy. Our people are going to be sitting on each other in the coming 15 years. What do we do with such kind of issues? Even the recent post-election violence, much of it was triggered by land inequality and distribution of that resource. It is important that the Minister looks into the land policy. We need to realise that if we cannot pass education to our people, land is not expanding and yet the population is increasing. The land is also not properly planned to make it more effective in terms of production. We need to mechanise our farms so that we can be able to feed our people. This being a cross-cutting issue, we need to address issues across the board for example, water catchment areas, fragmentation of land, and mechanisation of land so that we can have higher yields in terms of per acre production. This can only be done if we make deliberate policies of having to rethink our land policy framework which is needed to consolidate land and put people in a particular place. That way, we will be able to provide water resources, electricity and avail land for purposes of production. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of Mau Forest, which is not the subject for discussion today, is all about land. It is about who has land and who does not have it. It is important that even as we address this matter of land, there is a simple basic thing, like the Minister has just indicated, called geosurvey. Did you know that if the hon. Minister for Lands and the Minister for Nairobi Metropolitan Development sat together with the Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security and authorised the Minister for Lands to code land and put it in the computer, we will know all our land? When a bell rings somewhere in Kibera, we will be able to know who has got a problem. I am talking about geomapping and geosurveying. This is something that is achievable. That way, we can reduce instances of insecurity. We shall be able to effectively use our land and have sufficient food yield. While I support the Minister for Lands and what he is endeavouring to do in terms of developing the districts, it is important that some areas need to be opened. Today, the Land Registry in Kisii serves about five to six new districts. If the Minister could lend me his ears through you, he would understand that the Kisii Land Registry is serving more than seven districts. I can see that we have not provided for new districts, including Gucha South, which is the headquarters of where I come from. So, we need to decentralise this kind of functions so that people can access services, as it were. People travel long distances to access these services. The essence of creating new districts is to bring services closer to the people. The only way you can do it is by establishing land registries or land offices in the various new districts to give members of the public ease of transaction. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with regard to the money that we are going to give the Ministry of Lands, that is, Kshs2.2 billion, I believe that hon. James Orengo, whose credentials and sincerity I have no doubts about, will utilise the money in the best interest of this nation. However, I think that it is within the Ministry of Lands that corruption thrives. If you do not have some few shillings to part with, your file will get lost, your transaction will be delayed and the Lands Board will not sit. July 22, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1977 Some families have given up in terms of getting their land heritage. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, with regard to graft, I am looking forward to that day when all of us will stand up to be counted in this matter. We have heard very many times people saying that no stone would be left unturned until x, y, z was achieved, but some stones are too big to be turned. Time is now when all of must examine ourselves. How have we made our wealth, including land grabbing? I want to give you a comical joke. I saw a cartoon in the newspapers where some gentleman in a car looked outside at the Railways Golf Club. He closed his eyes and screamed. When the driver asked him what the problem was, he said that he had seen empty land and he suffered from \"land grabiosis\". We have them here!"
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