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{
    "id": 480491,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/480491/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 428,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "prior informed consent from the community. The land was allocated to the so-called investors who are now masquerading as the land owners and from the set up of things, it is like they are the host community. The host community is nowhere and when you ask, you are told that they have a title deed. That is why from the Floor of this august House, I would like to urge the National Land Commission (NLC) to be serious with its work. The community wrote to the NLC in June and they received the letter where the community asked for revocation of the title deed but they have kept quiet. I do not know why. Is it because it is a weak community and does not know its way round and that is why NLC is quiet? Today, the NLC have actually put in the press a notice on the acquisition of the way leave of a powerline to get power from that wind project but when the community complained about how the land was acquired instead of regularizing it, they have gone ahead and it seems like they are part of the whole thing. So, let Kenyans know that the NLC has to be fair to everybody in this country. It should not be seen to be fighting high and mighty somewhere else then they ignore the weak somewhere else. Any commission worth its salt should be defending the weak. That is where their justice would be seen. How do you defend somebody who is weak who comes to you because you are the commission in charge of land in this country? Madam Temporary Speaker, we also have the issue of the wind itself which is now a new resource in terms of power generation. The community is not appearing anywhere. We are being told that this is Vision 2030 and the Government is going to get 300 megawatts of power out of it but the host community is losing out. In this age and time where we have a new Constitution that emphasizes the right of each and every individual in this country, we cannot have a system where the national Government just trumpets up the Vision 2030 card at the expense of some citizens of this country. I am very happy that in this Senate, we have this Bill that will ensure that local communities get benefits from their God-given resources which they have been living with. Once the Bill comes to this House, it will be good that we have a clear way of sharing the resources. The investor will claim that he is paying tax just like any other Kenyan pays income tax. However, how do we generate the royalties? For instance, in the petroleum sector, we have some fuel levy money set aside for road maintenance. The petroleum dealer will pay his income tax based on his turnovers. However, for each and every litre, he has to pay Kshs9 to go directly to the Kenya Roads Board (KRB) although it is collected by the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA). A formula like that should be worked out so that we know what we are sharing. If we are sharing petroleum or oil in Turkana, we should know what is being shared out. Unless that is clear, the local community may not know how much of sharable revenue is being generated. There should be a formula which is known to everybody. In the case of wind, we should also know about the sharable formula. What we pass should not create more confusion but should clear the air about what we are sharing so that the public has more faith in us because we have already identified this as a major issue. We have heard many natural resources being talked about by the previous speaker which shows that this is a rich country. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}