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{
    "id": 266583,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/266583/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 199,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mr. Orengo",
    "speaker_title": "The Minister for Lands",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 129,
        "legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
        "slug": "james-orengo"
    },
    "content": " Madam Temporary Deputy Speaker, I think Mr. Mungatana would agree with me that in our fundamental principle governing land laws is a principle known as “ caveat emptor ” (buyer beware). So, before you commit your money, the law places upon you a duty; not on the recorder of transactions; not on the vendor but you as a buyer that, at all times, you must be aware and carry out due diligence. In respect to that particular property, the fact of the matter is that there is a property on this land which is in the possession of the State of Kuwait. In fact, they have people on that land! How someone can buy a property to which he has no access; how a bank which is supposed to undertake a valuation before committing its funds as a charge or mortgage can do that without going to that piece of land to determine whether that land – even if there is an encumbrance in the register - but on the ground--- That is supposed to determine whether that land is not in another person’s possession. That is wanting. I sympathize with the sentiments of the hon. Members with regard to the way these things happened. However, on this particular case, I have no sympathies because the State of Kuwait, in fact, has told us that nobody has interfered with their possession with regard to that land. There is a permanent building which they are occupying. It is when they wanted to undertake a transaction that they found that there was a problem. However, on the ground, there is totally no interference at all. So, sometimes the Ministry of Lands may be accused but you may find that even the banks are part of these processes which are fraudulent. With regard to the question that Mr. Kiema Kilonzo asked, I think this is related to what I have said to hon. Mungatana. That is a principle in law which has been accepted since the Roman times, caveat emptor. This was during the times of Julius Caesar. This was a principle of Roman law that is well known so that when you undertake the purchase of any building, you as a buyer must beware and must carry out due diligence. I again want to plead with Members of Parliament that if Kenya wants to become a developing country, in the true sense, our records should not be kept as they were in 1900. Our registers, especially under the Registration of Titles Act and the Land Act are precisely what the first white man did as a recorder of titles in the year 1902. These are paper manual records and it is a register just like any other register you will find in a primary school. So, I plead with Members of Parliament, and I am trying to convince my colleagues in the Government that if we want these records to be secure, we must be prepared to spend Kshs9 billion and not Kshs100 million. You must spend the money to have an efficient land information system. If hon. Dr. Otichilo was standing on my feet, he would explain the principle better than I can because it is a shame that in Kenya we are still using manual records with regard to land transactions. If you want to become a modern economy, we must have a modern land information system. With regard to hon. Mbadi’s question about radical surgery, again, that is in the Land Bills that if at all they are enacted, everyone in the Land Ministry will undergo vetting and will apply afresh and it will be upon the National Land Commission to make a decision whether to carry them on board. That has worked with the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) and the Judicial Service Commission."
}