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{
    "id": 625289,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/625289/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 145,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kajwang’",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2712,
        "legal_name": "Tom Joseph Kajwang'",
        "slug": "kajwang-tom-joseph-francis"
    },
    "content": "assisted by a professor who, after some time, will be writing big books about the land tenure, the philosophy and jurisprudence of land law in this country. I have never seen them attempt to advise any of these committees; except to wait after the laws have been set and then they come to write those big books. It may be necessary that committees hire the expertise. There should be a reserve from the National Assembly that allows us to hire expertise in some of these aspects to help us harness these things. Having said that, I am concerned about Section 7. It is about what I think my colleagues have spoken about. Let me also just dramatize it in a different way. Under Clause 7, societies are the medium through which land may be registered. It says that land shall be registered in accordance with the law relating to societies. If you are not careful, we may grow a big behemoth through which people will just appeal for land. As my colleague from Ndhiwa has said, Article 63(2) is plain and very general as it should. It says that:- (2) Community land consists of— (a) land lawfully registered in the name of group representatives under the provisions of any law; (b) land lawfully transferred to a specific community by any process of law; (c) any other land declared to be community land by an Act of Parliament; and, (d) land that is— (i) lawfully held, managed or used by specific communities as community forests, grazing areas or shrines; (ii) ancestral lands and lands traditionally occupied by hunter-gatherer communities; or, (iii) lawfully held as trust land by the county governments,but not including any public land held in trust by the county government under Article 62 (2). However, the Constitution does not define what “community” is. I hope the Chair could give an ear to this because he rose in his place and said that the word “community” has been defined in the Constitution. It is not true. I do not see any sentence which defines the word “community” in the Constitution. What I see is “community land”. Before you go to community land, you have to define “community” itself. Clause 7 allows people to register these things through societies. About five people from the Maasai Community or the Luo Community can form a society, since the Constitution says that they must be of the same ethnicity, share ethnic interests, among other interests. I am told the Luo people have quit fishing for land. Of course, five people can share those interests. What will prevent them from forming a society and registering themselves as a community? In this legislation, they will definitely become owners and appropriate the land. It is very important that we provide for a threshold. If a community has about 1,000 people, the threshold must be a number which will make it difficult for five or 10 people to exploit that community’s land. That is one of the loopholes that will lead to a lot of ranches, game reserves and conservancies being owned by the well-to-do people in society because two or five people can come together and make a community. These must be live persons not companies. You can have five or 10 companies, who are regarded as persons in law despite the fact that they are not human beings, owning ranches and big reserves. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}