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{
    "id": 518244,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/518244/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 141,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "produced a very powerful person who was the then Minister for Lands and Settlement. It is through him that right now we have Kirinyaga which at one time was a part of Embu and also a part of Murang’a, which was called Fort Hall in those days. But it has now been squeezed to remain the way it is now as Kirinyaga County because the southern boundaries have been moved upwards from the River Tana where it was supposed to be, up to the present boundaries in the northern part of Mwea. In this case, we talk of around 200 square kilometres of land which should have been in a county called Kirinyaga but now it is claimed to be in Mbeere and Embu. So, such a Motion is coming at a time when we should know the exact definition of a county; the extent of the county, the people living there and the physical boundaries. Physical boundaries are very important when it comes to knowing what the physical borders of a county are. In most cases, even without going backwards for too long, you will find that rivers, mountains and ridges have been used as possible physical boundaries, including even the margins of deserts – even if those are migratory – and so on, and so forth. Rivers, mountains and the ranges have been used for a long time. In this case, you note that River Tana, which is on the western side right now, marks the physical boundary of Kirinyaga, Murang’a and Nyeri because to date, that has been the boundary. The same river continues to be the boundary of Kirinyaga and Machakos. In between, we have another district coming in the name of Mbeere and Embu. That is the reason which made the then President, at that time in 1998, to appoint a Commission called the “Chesoni Commission,” which was sent to fix the boundaries between Embu and Kirinyaga. That report has not been tabled to date nor has it been made public, although the people of Kirinyaga still claim and they still know that the southern boundary should be the same physical boundary of the river which marks Kirinyaga and Machakos districts. But we are not supposed to have another district in between called Embu as a county and a sub-county called Mbeere. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I am supporting the Motion that we need to have a commission. Even if we are not going to have it immediately; even if it comes after a year, it is important to come up with the exact position of most of these 47 counties which have so far been created by the Constitution. Let us know the extent of these counties, let us get to know the communities living in the counties and even the communities should tell us the exact positions because if you were to use the then colonial boundaries then confusion will start. That is what may lead to clashes between the counties and the communities now and in the future. Mr. Speaker, Sir, it is, therefore, this commission should be set up so as to revisit the boundaries. They can even go back to 1895 to find out how the protectorates came about, how the colonies came about in 1920 up to 1963 when we became Independent in order to find out what the then boundary changes of that time were. If there is need of changing the boundaries to fix the new ones – the way we would like Kirinyaga to be fixed so that we can reclaim the southern parcel of land measuring 200 square kilometres – the we should go back to what was the natural boundary of River Tana and River Rupingazi so that now Kirinyaga is seen to have physical boundaries not like the ones 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."
}