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{
    "id": 263855,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/263855/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 219,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Orengo",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Lands",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 129,
        "legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
        "slug": "james-orengo"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, the National Land Commission is established as an independent organ because we know that there was a time and that time has not expired because the institutional arrangement still exists where the management of public land was essentially in the hands of a department within the Executive which was not independent. When it came to matters to do with public land, the land that had not been alienated and was available for alienation, conferring any grants in relation to such public land was a power vested on the President and currently that power has been delegated to the Commissioner of Lands. We have found over the years that there has been abuse and misuse of this power to the extent that land was being given as a gift or reward. For the three or four years that I have been in the Ministry of Lands, when you look at leases and grants, they have been a source of what I have over the years called as the basis of primitive accumulation of capital. Somebody would be able to get as a gift, a large piece of land or a very prime piece of land at no premium, at no cost at all or very minimal cost and go within the land market and within a matter of months he transforms that land by way of a deal or a transaction to make millions or billions of shillings. This Bill is now removing those powers that were donated to the Commissioner of Lands to the Commission. How the Commission deals with public land in terms of management and alienation can be found in the substantive Bill which is the Land Bill. The purpose of this Bill is to institutionalize the Land Commission within the framework of the Constitution. I would like to add that the manner in which this Commission is going to be established is supposed to secure public land and manage it within the guidelines that are provided in Article 60 of the Constitution; land which the Constitution in Kenya says belongs collectively to all Kenyans as a nation, as communities and as individuals. Therefore, the Commission has a very important role to play in ensuring that the values and principles which are set out in relation to governance of land in Article 60 of the Constitution is adhered to."
}