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{
    "id": 236978,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/236978/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 259,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Moroto",
    "speaker_title": "The Assistant Minister for Health",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 318,
        "legal_name": "Samuel Chumel Moroto",
        "slug": "samuel-moroto"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to the debate on this Motion. I would like to thank hon. Khamisi for bringing this very important Motion to the House today. When we talk about land, we touch on people's lives. The Government should now realise that without adequate land, people will scramble for the little that they can get. Let me talk about Kapenguria and Trans Nzoia. In 1814, the Pokot and Sabaot were moved from Trans Nzoia. The Sabaot were moved all the way to Mount Elgon and the Pokot were taken all the way down to Kacheliba, which is a very dry land. The white people settled on the very fertile areas in Trans Nzoia. Thereafter, the Pokot and the Sabaot became squatters. They were made to settle in areas where they could not produce anything. They became beggars. Up to now, they depend on famine relief food and yet they are able to engage themselves in farming and other economic activities which can improve their living standards. When the white man left, people from other areas occupied Trans Nzoia without considering the Pokot and the Sabaot. They invited their relatives in big numbers. At the moment, they are calling themselves squatters in that place. The other day, we realised that people who have been oppressed for a very long time are now emerging. The other day, people were given title deeds in Coast Province. This should be done throughout the country. It is not only in Coast Province where there are squatters. I would like to urge the Government to move very fast to Trans Nzoia and give the land back to its ancestral owners. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, in Makutano, Kacheliba, Alale and Sigor, people are living in centres. They are not able even to take their children to primary schools. Even with the free primary education, they cannot afford to buy uniforms for their children. The land on which they could grow crops is just lying idle or other people are occupying it. Let me inform the Government that the other day, there was a message which was being circulated in Trans Nzoia that when the President will be going to open the Kitale Agricultural Show, some people will be given land. Those people are day dreaming! Unless all the communities November 1, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3303 around that area are considered for that, then a small group, people cannot be given land. This is not a unique problem to the Pokot. The Turkana community is also facing a similar problem in Laikipia. The other day, Pokot and Samburu were moved from Laikipia in order to give room for other people to be settled there. The issue of land goes beyond the issue of cattle that we always chase. We will now change our minds and engage ourselves in activities that are sustainable. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the rich people should now know that their time is coming to an end. There are people who own large chunks of land in this country. You will find an individual owning a whole province and yet many Kenyans are suffering. Some of these people are our colleagues in this House although I cannot see their faces now. I think when they saw that the Motion is about land, they ran away to hide. They knew that we were going to mention them. With those few remarks, I beg to support."
}