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{
"id": 188783,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/188783/?format=api",
"text_counter": 222,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Ms. Karua",
"speaker_title": "The Minister for Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs",
"speaker": {
"id": 166,
"legal_name": "Martha Wangari Karua",
"slug": "martha-karua"
},
"content": " Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise to support this Vote and to tell the Minister and the House that if there is one Government Ministry or area that urgently needs very serious reforms, it is the July 22, 2008 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 1999 Ministry of Lands. I am glad that it has a Minister and Permanent Secretary who are well- versed in reforms. I want to tell them that the country is watching us, as a Government, to see that we transform the way we do business in the Ministry of Lands. Kenyans were very hopeful when there was the Ndung'u Report. We were, however, unable to implement the Ndung'u Report during the last term. It is high time we came up with a policy of implementation. I do not want to blame the Ministry of Lands because they were doing that work together with my Ministry and other several stakeholders. So, I am telling the Ministry of Lands that we are ready to support them so that they can complete the unfinished business. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, within that Report, there is land that has been given to Kenyans as settlements where the only reason why it is marked as \"Irregularly Obtained\" is that no degazzettment or certain procedures had been done. It is upon this office now, together with other stakeholders, to come up with a policy so that what can be regularised is regularised and people stay without uncertainty. Where people need to pay a penalty, they should do so. Whatever method is found of settling this issue once and for all is welcome. We have very major problems with our land registries countrywide. I, personally, think that the Land Registry at Kerugoya is perhaps the worst. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to say that I personally think it is a problem that has been there for years. Every time we try to right the situation, we only scratch the surface. I think major reforms are needed, including computerising all the land registries, so that when you go to do a search you use a computer, or you are able to do it online. That is what is happening elsewhere in the world. We should not have to queue at lands offices to do a search. There is also the issue of capturing all the data electronically, so that one does not have to be told that files are missing when they need vital information. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, we also then would see the eradication of issuance of multiple title deeds that are conflicting in respect of the same land. So, we are saying that this Minister has his work cut out for him and the Ministry itself. There is a lot of unfinished business, which needs to be finished now. I want to congratulate the Minister and the Ministry. They have embarked on public discourse on the land policy. This is something we need. It is one of the items in the Agenda No.4 at Serena, where people mistakenly, or the way the Press has portrayed it, have expected that it is the negotiating team that will settle this agenda. Eight representatives of Members of this House cannot discuss land policy. It is the work of the Ministry of Lands to spearhead public participation, and then this House passes the policy. So, that particular item of Agenda No.4 is well ahead with the Ministry spearheading the talks. I would urge the Minister to look, among other issues, into the land that we are adjudicating now, the unfinished business in adjudication. Do we still need to do it the old way? Why do we not create settlements where people live, that is in sort of villages, but where the dwelling houses are together and their farms are further away? This is easier and helps people to get basic services like water, electricity and schools. So, we, as a country, will spend less giving the people the basic infrastructure and, if irrigation of their farms is needed, it will be a much easier job to handle. It is a concept that is being used elsewhere in the world. It is not only for settlement schemes. If regulations, or legal reforms, are needed, it is up to the Ministry to spearhead them, so that it paves the way that, where consent is given for a huge sub-division, an arrangement is made which makes it easier for the Government to service the needs of the people, and also for the farmlands to be utilised in a better manner. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I am wondering about where the Physical Planning Department is. When you look at our towns and shopping centres in the rural areas, where is the Physical 2000 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES July 22, 2008 Planning Department? Do we have physical planners in Kenya? Is it that we, the politicians, are interfering with their work, or is it that the professionalism has gone out of physical planners? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, if it is a combination of inertia by this department and interference by us, the political class, I would want to tell my colleagues, let us, as a Government, give support and it is the Minister who must spearhead service delivery. Let us give support to this department to return professionalism to the way we plan our urban centres. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let us not have shops up to the road, so that when the road needs expansion, shops have to be brought down. Let us not have haphazard development. I am agreeing with the last speaker that we need to do a lot. We need to spend much more money than we are spending to assist this particular Ministry to do its work. I also want---"
}