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"id": 224385,
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"speaker_name": "Mr. Ochilo-Ayacko",
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"legal_name": "Ochilo George Mbogo Ayacko",
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"content": "I am sorry, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move:- THAT, in view of the Government's policy that all Government institutions acquire title documents for the land upon which they are erected; and considering that these titles attract fees from the Department of Lands and other Government departments; this House urges the Government to waive all fees/charges payable to these departments for titles held by public primary and secondary schools, public dispensaries, health centres, hospitals, village polytechnics and other public facilities in rural Kenya. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, you know very well that development is under threat from people bent on acquiring land for personal or restricted use. This country has many facilities that have been put up using public resources. They are intended to benefit the public. These facilities are scattered all over the country. However, the unfortunate situation is that the facilities do not have title deeds. They are not registered in the Department of Land as facilities available for public use. In order to register them, there are certain professionals who go by the description of surveyors. They charge hefty fees and after the survey and excision has been effected, certain fees are charged by way of stamp duty or registration. There are many other fees that make it very difficult for institutions to acquire title deeds. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I want to inform this House that a couple of years ago, I happened to be a potential beneficiary of a donation from the Japanese government. In its benevolence, the Japanese government wanted to donate plenty of money to put up two public schools in my constituency. However, the donation was hinged upon the acquisition of title deeds. I lost that donation because all attempts to get title deeds for the land upon which the public schools; Rongo Primary School and Anindo Primary school, are built, hit a snag. We could not get the title deeds because certain monies were required. The local authorities of the areas also placed bureaucracy on those running the schools. Since this benevolent donor could not get the title deeds in good time, the donation went to some other place that I do not know. The fees which may amount to Kshs40,000 or Kshs50,000 in one instance, may hinder or inhibit grants that would otherwise, help develop many of our institutions. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we know that land is the basis of many conflicts. If, for example, you take the Mt. Elgon situation, land is the basis of conflicts. A place like Bomet 916 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 25, 2007 where violent evictions of peasants was effected by certain forces, the basis of such evictions was land. The fight between hawkers and city askaris and occasionally ant-riot police, its all based on space. That tells us that land, its use and occupation is a potential area of conflict. Where there is conflict, there is no access to the enjoyment and use of public facility and there is under- development or there is a slide-back in terms of development. The facilities that we are talking about, be they public hospitals, polytechnics and others, belong to the Government as a trustee of the people. Why would the Government have a policy of asking the users or beneficiaries of those facilities to use some other arrangements to acquire the title deed? That amounts to some of the paradoxes where you are robbing Paul to pay Peter. You are taking one debt somewhere to clear another debt. That does not make sense in modern times. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we are aware and the books of Public Investments Committee (PIC) and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have numerous reports and recommendations where public institutions have lost land because the land that was set aside for them, which certain communities were evicted from in order to give room for such development, has to date, not been registered in favour of that public institution. I have in mind institutions like the Kenya Seed Company. The Kenya Seed Company is a pale shadow of what it used to be before and immediately after Independence. What used to be Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) is today a pale shadow of what it used to be in terms of territorial expanse. What it is today is probably a quarter of what was allocated to them. If you go to such places, you will find shanties, private developers or even warlords purporting to exercise authority and control over such parcels of land. When we allow people to use parcels of land and yet we know that we have authority to issue title deeds and fence those parcels of land, so that they could be developed for the benefit of the current generation and posterity, we are doing the wrong thing. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, these fees that appear to be little in the eyes of some people is a lot of money in the eyes of others. For instance, my constituency is blessed with 148 primary schools, but none of them has a title deed to its name. We have families with children the number of a football team. Very soon you will find families putting up houses in primary and secondary schools. Very soon there will be conflicts between the communities and schools over water, roads and the children's playgrounds. These conflicts can be avoided by a proclamation, a promulgation or gazettement by the relevant department of Government that the fees be waived and that if there is any survey to be done, the Government pays the surveyors and issues out title deeds. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, if you visit our major facilities such as Kisumu Airport and the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), you will find that those who conceived them had set aside over 10,000 acres of land. Today, if you visit those airports and look at the land that is available, it is as little as 6,000 acres. What happened to the balance of that land? The Department of Land and other influential personalities knew that there were no title deeds. Those personalities acted with impunity, accessed that land and got it registered in their names. They would then develop or use it to speculate. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this Motion intends to give the Government its rightful role. That is the role of securing the property that the Kenyan people entrust upon it for present and future generations, without visiting the cost of such titles on the same public that votes the Government in to look after the same little property. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, right now, I can cite the case of Awendo Sub-District Hospital in my constituency. I have asked Questions in this House regarding that hospital. I have even had occasion to visit the Assistant Minister for Lands, Mr. Kamama. I can see he is looking at me. I have even spoken to him. He has given me an oral commitment that he will protect that public facility from annexation for private use by certain developers. Today, there is a private April 25, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 917 developer who has put up a school there. That private developer has connived with certain people at my former district headquarters and they are planning to take away nearly two acres of land belonging to Awendo Sub-District Hospital. The people who run that sub-district hospital are, unfortunately, poorly paid just like other civil servants in Kenya. They have attempted to talk to that private developer. They have even visited the police station at Awendo, but they have been told that they require a court order. What Government would ask for a court order to protect its own land? You can see how ridiculous that kind of advice is, especially when it is from an Office Commanding Station (OCS) running a local police station. That would be the remark or advice of a public officer who has \"eaten something big.\" I do not know whether that is the truth, but you can see how they dilly-dally on such matters. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, still on my constituency, we have a proposal for putting up a public secondary school called Sari Mixed Public Secondary School. At the time we were coming up with that proposal, the land that was set aside for that institution was 11 acres. Right now, when we are about to implement the proposal, the land that is left is barely five acres. Our visits to public institutions to get the documents in respect of that proposed secondary school has become a game of hide of seek. As you know, an hon. Member's primary function is to legislate. You cannot expend all your time at the Department of Lands trying to secure a title deed that ordinarily belongs to the Government. So, that is a request that, in my view, a Government that is interested in the preservation of public facilities and the well-being of the people that it leads, should automatically accede to. I do not think the Government should rob itself by using the right hand to enrich the left hand. To ask public facilities like primary schools to raise fees to acquire land that belongs to the Government is like trying to squeeze blood from a housefly, flea or a mosquito; blood that cannot even be useful. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, there are numerous recommendations by the Public Investments Committee (PIC). If you look at the 9th and 10th reports, there is a recommendation by PIC that, in order to preserve Government institutions and protect their land from being grabbed, they should be given title deeds. But the Government has not acted on that recommendation. If you go to the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), you will find that certain plots exist within its perimeters. Likewise, if you go to facilities like what used to be Highridge Teachers Training College, you will find that certain facilities that were set aside as lecturers houses are no longer in the names of such people. This is something that is common all over the country. What this Motion seeks to do is to remind the Government - because governments have to be reminded - to do what is purely within its domain, interest and function. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I know that the Ministry concerned will not shy away from supporting this Motion. But my concern will be on the implementation of this resolution. A lot of very good propositions have been made in this House, but once that has been done and they are passed by the bi-partisan support of this House, they are left to grow cobwebs on the shelves or wherever they are put. So, I want to urge the relevant Ministry to make sure that the conflict over public resources is minimised and that the people who will come after us; the so-called posterity, will have somewhere to pick from. In fact, even public roads are in danger in this country. If title deeds could be issued for public roads, I would recommend the same. This is because you will find that in certain places and in most instances, people are so vicious that they desire to acquire even areas that are designed for public roads. So, the Ministry of Lands, which is a key Ministry that should be concerned with land as a factor of production and an instrument of development, should be very much on the look-out. This is something that cuts across all Government departments. With those very many remarks, I beg to move and kindly ask hon. Angwenyi to second this very compelling Motion. 918 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES April 25, 2007"
}