{"id":627582,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/627582/?format=json","text_counter":130,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Dido","speaker_title":"","speaker":{"id":2749,"legal_name":"Col (Rtd) Ali Rasso Dido","slug":"col-rtd-ali-rasso-dido"},"content":"Land is capital and an asset. The French in Chad in the 1960s used to say “useful Chad” because it was good for agriculture and “useless Chad” because it was largely vast dry and arid land. During colonialism, Kenya was almost categorized along the same lines in terms of the useful Kenya and useless Kenya. Today, that has turned around and all land if properly utilized is useful in terms of development. Hon. Speaker, we, the Members of the pastoralist communities, own most of the land in this country, but we are also the most disadvantaged people because we do not have titles to that land. We cannot claim it because even in terms of adjudication or demarcation, there is a serious bureaucratic process. Individuals own land and put their heart to it but it never belongs to them. They later die and pass it on to the next generation without having a simple paper called “title deed”. Through this Bill, some of the desires of the pastoralist people can be achieved. I want to point out a few areas in this Bill. First, is the issue of the county government. Devolution is a good thing. For those of us who come from the periphery of Kenya, devolution has brought a new dawn of independence. At the same time, devolution has its own challenges, particularly in those non-homogenous counties, where different communities live in one county. In such areas, the decision of the existing administration does not necessarily reflect the desires or interests of everybody within that county. From the foregoing, we see that the county government has memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with investors, transactions with multi-national companies and also undertakes development without necessarily allowing for public participation or involving the leaders. That is going to put leaders and communities at crossroads with their own counties. Marsabit, the county I come from, is currently considered as a haven for investment. But there is little participation or calling upon leaders, particularly the Members of Parliament (MPs). This is the case and yet we represent constituencies and communities. Such things are a recipe for disaster and conflict in Kenya. Therefore, during the Third Reading of this Bill, we must draw the red line on what the county may or may not do so that we can safeguard the future generations of those counties. The other issue with this Bill and with many others that will come before the House is the idea of public participation. I do not see public participation as an issue just to do with interest 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."}