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{
"id": 188741,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/188741/?format=api",
"text_counter": 180,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Prof. Olweny",
"speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Education",
"speaker": {
"id": 122,
"legal_name": "Patrick Ayiecho Olweny",
"slug": "patrick-olweny"
},
"content": " Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, according to the Ministry of Lands, there is no district called Nyando. That is a serious omission of my district from the map of the Ministry of Lands, yet Nyando District--- If you look at Nyanza Province today, my district has the highest number of squatters. We have almost 10,000 squatters in my constituency, Muhoroni. Some of them have been squatters for well over 40 years. They have no land! When you talk of the people who suffered from the ethnic clashes of the 1990s, it was people in my constituency. The people who are landless because of those clashes are in my constituency. I have written severally to the Ministry of Lands. In the last Parliament, I wrote almost four times but I got no response. May be my letters were being thrown into the dustbin as if I was someone looking for a job by writing application letters; so, they were thrown into the dustbin. July 22, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1979 Recently, I also talked to the Minister for Lands about these squatters in my constituency. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I talked to the Ministry of Lands officials recently about squatters in my constituency, but nothing has been allocated for that purpose in the Budget. I was unfortunately told, some time back, that the money that was meant for buying land for squatters in Muhoroni Constituency was used to buy land for other people in Nyeri. That was last year. So, that is an issue I want the Ministry of Lands to note. The Minister and his officers are here. My letters to the Ministry are so many. They have received them. Another issue I would like to raise with the Ministry is the fact that in many parts of my constituency and my district and, of course, other parts of Nyanza Province, people have no title deeds. It takes so long for the Ministry to process title deeds. What is the reason for having well qualified officers in the Ministry if things cannot be sorted out? I sympathise with the Minister. The other day, he brought a huge file of records, which were falling in pieces. I hope the Ministry will think of computerising its records, so that the Minister does not have to carry a huge load of papers to Parliament, showing us that, indeed, he has problems there. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, let us look at the settlement schemes we have had in this country. I am talking for Nyanza Province. Since the mid-1960s, we have never had a major settlement programme for that part of the country. We had one immediately after Independence. Thereafter, there has never been any project to re-settle or settle people who have land problems in that part of the country. It is high time that someone took note of that fact, woke up and considered that part of the country as part of Kenya. The people living in that part of the country also need land. We have people who are landless. The issue we have today is the Mau Forest problem. That problem is not only in Mau Forest. There are other forests in this country which have been destroyed. They should all be addressed. They were destroyed by people who grabbed land. Some of them were very senior officers of the previous Government. The truth must be said. We have to talk about this problem openly and find a way of solving it. Regarding some people who have been settled in the forests, it is not their mistake. It was the mistakes of previous Government leaders and civil servants who were working in the Ministries responsible for forests and land at that time. Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, the way to sort out this matter is to get land for those people who were wrongfully given land in the forests. It was not their mistake. Those people were settled there. They bought land from Government officers, who actually acquired that land in the forests. I appreciate that the Prime Minister has appointed a committee to look into the matter and come up with recommendations. Quite a good number of the people living in the forests bought the land. So, let the Government get them alternative land somewhere, re-settle them and reclaim our forests, so that we have our catchment areas conserved. The names of some of the people who were involved in this malpractice are in the Ndung'u Report. We know them. I even read about them in the newspapers. Some few names were mentioned. That is not good. Why should we wait until we are mentioned? It is embarrassing, particularly for leaders. It is very bad. So---"
}