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{
    "id": 627696,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/627696/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 244,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Moi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2689,
        "legal_name": "Kipruto Moi",
        "slug": "kipruto-moi"
    },
    "content": "This Bill is extremely important because it affects a lot of people, particularly community members who do not have a say on how their land is managed. It is important because an institutional framework has been laid on how community land shall be owned, registered and managed. We need to categorically state that community land shall be owned by the community. It is vested in the community and it can be held under the following tenure systems: Customary law, leasehold or freehold. This is important because most of the people affected are from the pastoralist communities and those people govern themselves according to customary law. We have given customary law the force of law. It is no longer a village law, but it is backed by the Constitution and has the force of law. Therefore, it will protect and empower those communities. We should know the role of counties. They have a very important role, but a minimal one. They are trustees of unregistered community land. They are caveats to that. They cannot dispose of that land. They cannot lease that land and they cannot sub-lease it to any other individual. They can only hold it in trust for the people of that area. Once community land is registered, then that trusteeship is resolved. Registration of a community as the proprietor of land shall vest in that community the absolute ownership of that land and hence, they can even submit plans to the county governments on how they can develop, manage and use that land. In order to protect this community from illegal land conversions, when the time comes for them to want to allocate a certain individual from that community land or to change a private land to a community land or community land to private land, they must have a 50 per cent of two-thirds of community members. So, it will be extremely difficult. It will not be a thing that can be done in the back rooms. It would require 50 per cent or two-thirds of the entire community. That is a very large number and it will require their voice and approval. The Bill also empowers the community with powers to allocate land to individuals and groups in the community who may want to use the land for other purposes, other than what the community used the land for. In the area of natural resources found within those communities, it is clear in the Bill that those resources will be managed for the benefit of that community and future generations. On the issue of settlement of disputes, we all know that on land issues, there will be disputes. There has been that traditional way of sorting out issues that has been provided, and which has the force of law. So, whatever the outcome of those meetings or traditional ways of solving conflicts, it will have the force of law. We are happy for that because those people respect customary law. Finally, the Bill entirely seeks to protect the rights of members of that community. So, I support. Thank you. 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."
}