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{
    "id": 234389,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/234389/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 195,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Dr. Mwiria",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Education",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 190,
        "legal_name": "Valerian Kilemi Mwiria",
        "slug": "kilemi-mwiria"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this Motion. I think we should thank Mr. G.G. Kariuki for coming up with this Motion, instead of blaming him for saying that he was a Minister during that time. What is wrong with realising that something is wrong many years after and correcting it? Are we saying that we do not want to own up when we have made mistakes? In fact, we should commend him instead of blaming him. We need to support him. An hon. Member said here that a lot of us, hon. Members, also have stolen or grabbed property which they need to announce. I think that Mr. G.G. Kariuki should call on others who also got land the same way to own up and follow him in a public baraza and announce it. We will follow their example. Secondly, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I would like to tell Mr. Odoyo that it is wrong to score political mileage by attacking Mr. Wamwere because he has not been given any land. In fact, he suffered because he always fought for the poor and landless. We need to acknowledge that fact. I do not think we need to bring ODM politics here just to soil the name of a man who is fighting for the poor, including those in ODM-K, like Mr. Odoyo. I appreciate the fact that Mr. Wamwere has spoken so well because the Government should 3680 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 15, 2006 be about the truth. Some hon. Members have talked about collective responsibility--- Collective responsibility is not about stealing. It is about the Government representing the truth. We should congratulate Mr. Wamwere and others who are willing to come out strongly against things that are wrong, even if some of the perpetrators may have been associated with one regime or the other. By addressing the squatter problem, we will also be dealing with ethnic problems once and for all. A lot of people are squatters because they were not given land when they should have been given. So, they squatted on this land and they were not given any title deeds. One way of dealing with this issue is to make sure that we give them title deeds so that this problem does not keep on recurring. Some hon. Members have said that we should ask people to surrender their land; they will not. These people have this land because they are gluttonous and have no sense of shame. It has nothing to do with needing it. Therefore, they will have to be forced to surrender it. We cannot talk about the right to private property when they did not use those rights to accumulate that land legally. This matter must be discussed and the solution must not necessarily be the law, because, like I have said before, the law often favours the rich. Finally, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, some people have plenty of land, some of which they have acquired illegally. We need to force them to observe human rights. There are people who own land in this country who treat their workers like dirt. This is also a serious problem. Unless we go back to our traditional African systems, whereby we took care of the poor, it will be a problem forever. The squatters themselves must bite the bullet. They must be part of the solution in terms of getting the right leaders and getting involved in politics, instead of directing their energies to meaningless demonstrations in the City of Nairobi. Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir."
}