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"speaker_name": "Mr. Angwenyi",
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"legal_name": "Jimmy Nuru Ondieki Angwenyi",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I rise to second this Motion and congratulate the hon. Ochilo-Ayacko for bringing it. In fact, I wish he had not been appointed a Minister, so that he could have brought this Motion four years ago. This is because we needed it yesterday and not today. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, over the last 20 years, we have seen the way land has been grabbed from public institutions. Take schools for example. Kenya High School is a renown high school that has produced the cream of our girl-child in this country in terms of education. But most of its land has been grabbed and given to the so-called private developers; people who are given public land and they become overnight billionaires without working hard. I would urge the hon. Ochilo-Ayacko that once we have passed this Motion, maybe he should seek to bring a Bill, to make it imperative on the Government, within a certain time frame, to issue title deeds for all public land to the institutions concerned. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, recently, we saw on televisions a caption where a road reserve had been grabbed in Karen. The Nairobi City Council moved in and demolished property belonging to one land grabber of that road reserve and left property belonging to another land grabber of the same road reserve. That brings bad-will on our people against the Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have seen hospitals whose land has been grabbed. So, when we want to expand them, we are unable to do so. We have the example of Kenyatta National Hospital where a part of its land was grabbed and private developers have developed high-rise apartments. It is very difficult to recover that land. So, if the hospital was to expand in the future, it would be unable to do so. We have seen the Kenya Railways land grabbed! People have constructed high-rise offices on the railways reserve land, and they do not give that institution any value for the land which they have grabbed. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, take the example of the airstrip in Suneka which we wanted to upgrade to an aerodrome so that people from the southern parts of Nyanza could use it as a commercial aerodrome. But the airstrip's land has been grabbed and issued out to people who have access to the powers-that-be and, at the expense of public use, they are using it for private settlement. We have seen our water ways and water streams drying up because the water catchment areas, instead of being preserved for that purpose, have been dished out to grabbers; people, who, as I said earlier, want to become millionaires overnight. Sometimes, private developers are issued with this land and the Government is usually forced to buy back that land after paying a hefty amount of money to a private person for public land! Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, this system must stop! The only way it can stop is by making it mandatory for every Government institution to get title deeds for its land and, maybe, even sanctify that title so that it cannot be sold to a private developer and it is kept for projects and future development of our people. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, recently, this Government revived the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC), but I understand that right now, they have no holding grounds where the livestock bought from upcountry, and as far away as Garissa, for example, can be held before they are slaughtered because the land which belonged to that institution; some 3,500 acres, has been issued to the so-called \"private developers\". If we had title deeds to that land issued to the KMC, and a law was made to the effect that the KMC cannot dispose of that land, that land could have been in hand when the KMC was revived. They would have had the land for the holding grounds so that they can purchase many more animals from people who cannot find a market for their cows, like the Pokots, Somalis and some of the Maasais who come from far away. They could come there and fatten their cows before they sell them to the KMC so that they can get good value for their cattle. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, we have seen research land being grabbed. For April 25, 2007 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 919 example, 20 years ago, the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) had in excess of 1 million acres in this country; up in the coast, Eastern Province, mainly in the Rift Valley Province and in parts of Nyanza Province. But that land has disappeared because the ADC did not have title deeds and there was no law prohibiting dishing out of that land to private individuals; people who have been given land which is bigger than what communities have. We have even seen established buildings being grabbed. Ten years ago, I was doing research on land rationalization in this country, and I went round this country collecting information. I went to two places where I found public buildings being grabbed. One was in Kilifi District where the DC's house had been dished out to the DC's wife. So, the Government started paying rent to that DC's wife. He used to stay with his wife in the same house. A house which was built specifically for the DC's residence was grabbed just like that because there was no title deed indicating that the House belonged to the Government. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I saw another case in Eldoret where the offices for the Ministry of Lands were grabbed by an individual. The Ministry of Lands did not have a title deed to that land although it is the same Ministry which gives out title deeds. These offices were dished out to a private individual. That individual got big offices because they belonged to the Ministry of Lands before that. Since they did not have a title deed, they were given to an influential so-called private developer. The Government rented those same offices and it was paying rent to that private developer who never developed anything except to grab those offices. This Parliament---"
}