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"speaker_name": "Mr. G.G. Kariuki",
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"content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, for giving me this opportunity to say something on this matter. The issue of landlessness is one which no attempt has been made to resolve it by the previous Governments and the current Government. The present Government has given an indication in the National Land Policy Paper which was discussed a few months ago. If that paper was to come here as a Sessional Paper, then the House passed it without reservation and it immediately goes into the process required to legalize it, that will, perhaps, bring us close to the end of this problem. Those who have read that paper must have realized that it is very, very important and that we need to look at it. November 1, 2006 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 3305 Having said that, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, that does not stop us from pushing on and demanding whatever we think is right from this Government. There are about four categories of landlessness. First, there are people who were displaced before Independence. These people and their children continue to suffer to date. The second category involves those people who squatted on other people's land. This land could be owned by Europeans, Asians, Arabs or Africans who became landowners immediately after Independence. The third category is composed of people who were displaced by the land clashes; a word which was not known before but which is now available in the dictionary. This is a matter which was perpetrated by an irresponsible Government. Displaced people have become a big problem in this country and nobody has attempted to resettle the people who were displaced from their parcels of land, which they rightfully owned. Even to date, land is lying idle for the people who were chased away from their land. This has happened in the Coast and Rift Valley provinces, and in almost all areas of the country. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I think time has come for us to call a spade a spade. Time and again, I keep on saying that there is no need for any Government to play politics. When a Government has been elected, it has to be a Government of the people, because it has been put in power by the people. Therefore, it has to discharge its responsibility without fear of political implication, because that is where our problem is. We always fear that if we are going to do something, that region will be against the Government. I think the Government needs to manage the country without fear or favour. That is why we have failed to resettle the people who were removed from their rightful land during the clashes, and these people are still suffering in the eyes of everybody, including the politicians, who are busy with the so-called ODM (K) and others. I think time has come when Kenyans really need to know when we are playing politics and when we really stand firm to defend the people. The fourth category is that group of people who were removed from the forests, where they used to work in the forests for many years. Those people were born, raised and became old men and women in the forests. This added to the problem which was already there. Realizing that this problem is so grave, I decided to bring a Motion here, and I think this Motion is a progression of my Motion. If the Motion we are discussing here is passed, it will reinforce the Motion which is on the way and which will be asking the House to grant leave to introduce a Bill which will address the issue of squatters by asking the Government to resettle all the squatters in this country. I think that will put this matter to rest. That is why I decided to bring the Motion, which is coming, to ask the House to grant leave to introduce a Bill which will deal with the issue of resettlement of squatters in this country. That will be the cure. This Government needs to resolve whatever it thinks is good for the country. As I said, the National Land Policy is a well written Paper. However, it will take this Parliament another ten years before it is discussed. We all know that land issues are so sensitive that they require us, hon. Members and other leaders to open up and be frank when dealing with them. However, they have never been given a political commitment. If we did so, we would have resolved all of them because nobody would want to take over the other person's land. It is widely believed that people from outside Coast Province, for example, go there, just to grab land. Politicians need to understand that there is no Government that has the power and authority to own land. The land which is said to be owned by the Government was not bought from the original owners. Therefore, the Government does not have any land that it can allocate to any individual. That was misuse of power by those who were in power previously. However, I think we are almost getting out of the situation where someone could decide to give the other, say, 50 acres of forest land. I do not think the current President would pretend that he has land to give to people. He is a straightforward person. He will only do so according to the law. However, the current law dealing with land issues is unclear. I remember that the Lancaster House Constitutional Conference was 3306 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES November 1, 2006 delayed for one month to discuss nothing, but land issues. That is when Section 75 was introduced to make sure that land was protected. The lease was set at 99 years, because the British would not have let us be independent unless this issue was accepted. Those who attended the conference had to accept Section 75. They agreed to go back and decide on the contrary, but that was not possible because the British and foreigners who owned land had all the ways to decide which way to go and what to do with the African land. We should not wait until that time when our people will decide, contrary to all the existing laws, to take over back their land. We need to resolve that problem before that time comes. I can see it coming. We cannot continue having 300,000 people living in Mathare Slum while some of us have more than 4,000 acres of land and we are not even developing it. The law needs to be changed to make sure that whatever I own is fully developed. If not so, then it has to be highly taxed so that I will find it impossible to keep it. I would rather surrender it to the people. But if it is left to those of us who own large tracts of land, to tighten the head knots, then the Independence will have no meaning to the landless in this country."
}