Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 236959,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/236959/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 240,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Serut",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Planning and National Development",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 297,
        "legal_name": "John Bomet Serut",
        "slug": "john-serut"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me speak as a Kenyan. Do we all need to own land? If it is agricultural land, the answer is \"no\". But we need to have somewhere to live. The poor must be settled. The Government must move with speed and settle all squatters. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, how many squatters are we talking about? We are talking of a number of squatters who are distributed all over the country. I would urge the Government that when it comes to settling the squatters, let it come up with a policy that it settles squatters across the country. It should not issue its policies piecemeal as it did the other day when it was talking of squatters in the Coast Province. The Coast Province could have been a starting point, but we must bear in mind that we have squatters in Nyanza, Western, Eastern and Central provinces. So, whatever policy the Government is coming up with, should be comprehensive. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Government set aside Kshs400 million in the current Budget to acquire land to settle squatters. I want to take this opportunity to ask the Ministry of Lands, through the Settlement Fund Trustee (SFT), to move with speed and acquire land, tell Kenyans where that land has been acquired, how much land has been acquired and whom they want to settle on it. I am saying this because we do not want a situation where there is no transparency in the acquisition of land and settlement of squatters. We want all the squatters to be settled. We want squatters to be settled in Central, Western, Rift Valley and Coast provinces. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the issue of land is emotive. People have fought wars because of land. Brothers have fought because of land. I urge the Government to deal with the issue of land with a lot of sobriety. I am saying this because land has caused insecurity in this country, and yet the Government does not seem to be separating criminal activities from land issues. Where people fight because of cattle theft, it has always been referred to as land clashes. Where criminal activities take place, like in Trans Nzoia District, the Government should deal with them without reference to land. I know that land was allocated to certain communities in this country by a past regime. That land was allocated by a duly elected Government of Kenya. I would like to inform this Government that the issue of irregular allocation of that land does not arise because the person who was vested with powers to allocate land was the President of this country who was elected. There is no way Kenyans would have known that, that allocation was irregular. If any payment has been made for any land allocated to any Kenyan by the Government of the day, that allocation should be recognised by the Ministry of Lands. The Ministry should stop confusing Kenyans by terming the transactions as irregular. This is because the land was allocated by a person who was vested with powers to allocate it. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, with those many remarks, I beg to support."
}