{"id":585460,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/585460/?format=json","text_counter":223,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Mwiru","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":107,"legal_name":"Alex Muthengi Mburi Mwiru","slug":"alex-mwiru"},"content":"have been developing the land. There are also two prime markets on the land. Therefore, it will be very hard to demolish these developments and allocate the land to somebody else. The Committee is of the view that the AFC negotiates with the squatters and if possible, charge them an amount that is equivalent to the principal amount that was borrowed by Plum Company, so that the squatters and the AFC do not lose and there is no security problem in the process. The insistence of getting the principal amount together with interest is futile. They cannot get that because the amount has risen to over Kshs400 million. It is the feeling of the Committee that the AFC negotiates with these people so that they pay the principal amount. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, although I have explained about Muri Farm, it is important to note that your office was very instrumental in facilitating this Committee to do this work. Your office even provided officers from the Sergeant-At-Arms Department to provide security for us while we were in that area. As you realise, land is a very emotive issue and we could not go there without security. So, I want to thank your office and the office of the Clerk of the National Assembly for helping us to come up with this Report. I want to move to Mathengeta Tumutumu/Riakanau Farm. Again, this land was bought by a company way back in 1960s. This company organised for planning, survey and sub- division of this land. Thereafter, some squatters settled on the land. The first census of squatters on this farm showed that they were only about 250. Thereafter, there has been forceful entry into the farm by more squatters. Their number has been rising by the day. Unfortunately, there is no invasion of Government land or company land. The company that had bought the land had sub- divided it into individual parcels. Therefore, this has been an invasion of individual parcels of land. The Committee observes that the sanctity of a title deed must be respected. It is not fair for people to invade somebody’s farm. A person develops his farm on one edge, but on the other edge, squatters occupy by force. The sanctity of a title deed is being eroded. As a Committee, we are saying that the Ministry should see how it can settle the 250 squatters who were identified by the first census elsewhere. They should leave the owners of this land to develop it because they had already done their part by paying Government levies. Survey has been done and they are settling on the ground. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, we are saying that the squatters at Riakanau are illegally there because some of them have forced their way into the land. So, the reprieve for the squatters is to find a different place where they can be settled by the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development. Indeed, we are recommending that the earlier census or number of squatters be the one to be considered and not others who are trying to invade those individual parcels of land."}