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"speaker_name": "Dr. Otichilo",
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"legal_name": "Wilber Ottichilo Khasilwa",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, for allowing me to contribute to this Motion. First and foremost, I want to congratulate the Minister and Ministry for the good work that they have embarked on. I want to encourage the Minister to remain bold and continue with the reforms that he has started at the Ministry. We are all happy with what he is doing. Secondly, I want to say that land is the most important resource. I am disappointed that the allocation given to the Ministry of Lands is so little. They cannot do much with it, yet land is the biggest resource on which we all depend. So, I believe that in future the Ministry should be allocated an adequate budget. If not, all what they have requested should be allocated to them. Thirdly, there is draft National Land Policy that is already available. It is extremely comprehensive. It was discussed very extensively. I was part of that process. I can assure this House that, that draft policy has all the issues that have been raised in this House. I would like to urge the Minister to fast-track that land policy, so that it can go through the Cabinet. Out of it, we should have a sessional paper which should be brought to this House as soon as possible, so that we debate and be able to resolve these very important land issues that everybody in this country is talking about. Therefore, I would like the Minister to take this issue of land use policy very seriously. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of land use planning in this country is very important. Unfortunately, this country has had no land use plan. It is no wonder all the haphazard land use we see in this country is a result of lack of land use planning. We need to have a land use planning exercise urgently. This will ensure that our land is properly utilised. Currently, people do all sorts of land use in this country regardless of the potential of the land. This is very serious and that is why we are having serious environmental degradation. Most of our land, particularly soil, is finding its way into the Indian Ocean. I am happy that the Ministry has started the process of having land use planning. However, the amount allocated for this is very little and very little can be done. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) is very crucial to this country. We cannot market this county if we do not know what we have. Therefore, the issue of establishment of NSDI is so crucial for this country. I am happy that the Ministry has embarked on this process through funding by the Government of Japan. This initiative should be given top priority. For this initiative to be successful, we must update our maps as a matter of priority. I want to tell this House that maps in this country are out of date. The maps we are using 1998 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 22, 2008 today were produced in 1959, 1972 and only a few large scale maps were produced in the late 1980s. So, the maps we have in this country are obsolete. We cannot create spatial date base without new maps. We can also not plan rationally without new maps. Therefore, the Ministry should allocate adequate funding to mapping. In this regard, being aware that mapping is a very expensive exercise, I want to urge the Ministry to come up with a special project proposal which will be given to donor agencies to consider. Otherwise, we cannot establish NSDI without updated information. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of land laws is very crucial to this country. Currently, we have more than 77 land laws in this country. They are contradicting and confusing. So, we urgently need to have new land laws that are specific and clear. This would come out as a result of a land use policy. That is why land use policy is very important. I am excited to learn that the Ministry is planning to transform the Kenya Institute of Survey and Mapping (KISM) into a semi-autonomous institution. This is welcome because this institution is very important. It is playing a crucial role, not only for Kenya but also the entire region; Eastern and Southern Africa. So, by making it semi-autonomous, it is going to play a crucial role for this continent. I am convinced that it is going to be an income generating institution. If well managed, it will be self sustaining. I, therefore, welcome the idea of making KISM a semi- autonomous institution. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of capacity building is very important in the Ministry. This is because your Ministry is highly technical. Surveying and mapping is a critical thing. Capacity building is an issue that should be accorded a lot of priority in the Ministry to ensure that our surveyors, who are recruited from the University of Nairobi or other universities, are taken for further training. This is because a first degree alone in surveying and mapping is not adequate. We need people to go for Masters and Ph.D programmes in surveying which is one of the most highly technical subjects. We need a lot of resources to be put in surveying and mapping. Therefore, capacity building becomes a key issue. With regard to the laws, I want to reiterate that our current Survey Act is outdated. The survey work we are currently doing is based on an outdated Act. The survey equipment that, that Act recognises as being legitimate are also outdated. We need the Survey Act to be amended as soon as possible. We now have modern survey techniques, for example, satellite surveying and mapping. We need to use the modern surveying techniques in surveying and mapping. With modern technologies such us Global Positioning Systems (GPS), land adjudication and surveying will be things that can be done very fast. So, we need to become modern in our surveying and mapping. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, lastly, I want to reiterate that land is a very emotive issue in this country. However, I want the Ministry of Land to take it upon itself that not everybody in this country can own land. The Ministry should, therefore, come up with an education programme to highlight on the importance of land and its ownership. Ownership of land should be based on its use. People should not just own land because it is a resource that they want to brag around with. So, we want Kenyans to be educated and made aware that not everybody can own land and that if you are not competent to use land for the purpose it is allocated for, then there is no need to be allocated land. Those people who own land and they do not use it should be severely penalised. I will be one of the first people to support the Minister if he proposes punitive levies or fines on people who do not use land. With those remarks, I would like to support the Vote for the Ministry of Lands, but in future I would like to see them allocated good money so that they can do a good job."
}