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{
    "id": 627065,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/627065/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 699,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. (Ms.) Kanyua",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 981,
        "legal_name": "Priscilla Nyokabi Kanyua",
        "slug": "priscilla-nyokabi-kanyua"
    },
    "content": "As we go on with the Community Land Bill, the trust that has been put in county governments is a new thinking by the country that county governments are elected. Our governors are elected in trust and they are going to hold land in trust for the persons who live in their counties. It is a very heavy and onerous duty. As we consider this Bill, we will be looking at the penalties that are going to be put in law for infringement of trust like what is going to be given to the county governments. The history of the local governments that we had before has not been very good. I grew up in an estate that had fields where children could play some games that require a lot of space. By the time I was leaving secondary school, those fields were no longer available. Councilors then had acquired the fields and put up stone houses, apartments and residential areas. Nothing could be sadder that you taking up community land and use it for individual purposes. We will be saying that the law corrects some of those earlier injustices. The chapter on offences is going to be important. Offences that relate to customary land practices where a community owns land need to be modernised. They need to be applied to the extent applicable under the new Constitution. Customs that do not allow women to own land, that community land ownership will have to be brought under the constitutional purview. All the laws that we pass now have to be in accordance with the Constitution. So, even as we say “community land,” we do not mean community men go and own the land. We mean that the community includes both men and women. Many issues that arise in community land affect both gender and we urge that the law applies to both gender. Most importantly as we look at customary practices, the new Constitution applies to those as well. Any person who commits offences within the community land tenure system is punished appropriately. Let me conclude with an idea that we have had for a long time and which I hope Hon. Okoth will be willing to support."
}