HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 275294,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/275294/?format=api",
"text_counter": 312,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Mututho",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 97,
"legal_name": "John Michael Njenga Mututho",
"slug": "john-mututho"
},
"content": "So, land issues started heating up in 1923. In that year, there was a commission instituted and then there was the Devonshire White Paper. The import of this paper was that Kenya was basically an African country, and whatever you wanted to do, you had to have Africans in mind. Africans did not mean Kikuyus, Luos or the Maasai but all of us. Whatever development was to follow thereafter, their interests were to be supreme. It is sad that by 1953, the colonial government thought it honourable for those people who supported Mau Mau to lose their land. That went through the equivalent of the Kenya Gazette. We are familiar with the ordinances of 1953. All those ordinances named parcels of land and people by name and they lost their land. We went to Lancaster to do a new Constitution but even before going there--- I seek your indulgence to tell you that in Rift Valley itself, there were people like our grandfathers who had settled in three spots, Eburu, Dundori and Olenguruoni. Those people sat there believing that they were in their land. The Maasai had gone to graze in the low land near the hills. Another community of Somalis were bringing down a gentleman called Delamere. Delamere came and thought that all land belonged to him. So, he took all the land from Ngong Hills to Njoro, including those parcels of land which had already been occupied by Kikuyus and they became squatters. Many things followed thereafter. The Late Bishop Kinyanjui, who died last week, may God rest his soul in eternal peace, in his book talks about destruction of forests, but nobody did as much destruction as the whiteman himself. They had mills for timber and we were exporting it all. That gives the genesis of the events. When hon. Martin Shikuku and his group went to discuss the Constitution, Delamere wrote a letter. Because he was a whiteman, he was treated very kindly. Therefore, they sanctified all title deeds and the instruments which had been issued by the colonial government. So, they were incorporated in our Constitution, thereby preserving Article 75 of the old Constitution. It is that article that brought about Cap.295 and others just to make sure that the land which was taken by colonialists officially belonged to them. Come Independence, the African Government that came into existence reckoned that a total of 11 million acres had been taken from Konza all the way to Laikipia, Nakuru and Kitale. Eleven million acres of land were taken. They agreed that they could not be taken back by force because the Article 75 of the old Constitution did not allow it. There could only be compensation. Since the new Government was a blue government, so to say, they can only do in bits. Therefore, they worked on the one million acre scheme. Some of the first one million acres became the Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC) farms while others became settlement schemes like in Nyandarua and other places, and it is mostly what people talk about. However, with regard to the 10 million acres, nobody bothered again to come and follow systematically how do Africans get back that land. So, as much as we want to talk about politics, our own tribal differences, leadership differences, political differences and party differences, these are hard facts. There were agreements and considerations. If we followed the 10 million acres, we will come back to a situation which is very harmonious. This brings us to the question: What do we do? We can and we shall do it if we localize the local land commissions because the local people understand their situation better. The Maasai - I would hate to be seen to be praising them - live with our wildlife and they are ecologically sound. They do not eat antelopes but their neighbours, the Kamba, do. The Maasai have stayed in harmony ecologically with the antelopes and have balanced the ecosystem. They have followed a certain migratory pattern over time. When you restrict that movement, then you must also introduce science into the art of land administration and management. I am saying that it is one thing to come and declare counties but it is another all together to identify livestock and wildlife movement corridors following the natural patterns that are agreeable. Neighbours will always talk to neighbours. We are Africans and in the end, we will agree. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, Nakuru, Narok, Kajiado, Laikipia and Samburu counties can sit and agree that certain areas should be set aside for certain considerations. About injustices, they are not only restricted to the Maasai but also to the Kikuyu, for instance, around Lavington and Westlands. That land belonged to three families. That is Wanyee, Muchene and Kinyanjui. There is no record anywhere that they sold that piece of land. However, they allowed, in utmost good faith, the white man to settle. The white man settled to an extent that he created Lavington, Muthaiga and all the other areas. The land south of the railway belonged to the Kamba. Even when we were young boys, where we have the Kenya Commercial Bank (KenCom), the Maasai cattle used to water there. There used to be a spring out there. This is just the other day. These are real facts. Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir, I rise here to support the Land Bill because we now have science. We can now read and google all these facts. A Delamere letter can be found and all these facts are plain, simple and clear. The Lands Commission can be localized so that the Registrar of Titles only sees Nairobi as a way of notification and for harmonization. However, most of these land issues should be dealt with at the county and local levels. The local land registrar at the county level must be powerful enough to harmonize these events. I have dealt at length on the history, and even the latest that we had in 2007. We promised the IDPs that we will settle them. However, this Government with a tradition of not honouring agreements has continued to keep them in tents and I do not see any hope for them even in the next few years. These things can be sorted out locally. As I support this, on the high value land now being identified in Konza and other places like Turkana where we have discovered oil, always remember at the back of your mind that that land belongs to some people. These are poor people who cannot even understand, cannot afford anything and did not even go to school. If there will be any proceeds from those high value land because of new found resources and thinking, then the full value must be realized and transferred to the right owners which are the local communities. I thank you, Mr. Temporary Deputy Speaker, Sir. I support this Bill."
}