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{
    "id": 641824,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/641824/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 290,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Kimaru",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2072,
        "legal_name": "Anthony Mutahi Kimaru",
        "slug": "anthony-mutahi-kimaru"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker. I stand to support the proposed amendments to the Land Registration Act. When we look at matters pertaining to land in the rural areas and urban areas, they trouble people a lot all the time. That is because one person or the other will be exchanging land at any given time. When the land law is not clear, you will find people suffering a lot. That is why the issuance of new title deeds and replacement of title deeds has been taking so long and, more so, in the recent past, when we had a conflict between the National Land Commission (NLC) and the Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Lands, Housing and Urban Development. It is the people of this nation who suffer. I support this Bill in the sense that it tries to streamline operations at the Lands Registry. Those operations are core to the many businesses that we do. Any business is carried out on land. Farming is carried out on land. When the ownership, the transfer and the rights to that land or the giving of those rights is delayed, it affects business, farming, schooling and social services like health. When you want to get a loan to settle a hospital bill, you cannot get it. You may need a loan to even have such cases registered. When delays occur, people suffer a lot. I support these amendments, particularly Clause 2, where we have recognition of condominiums, fractional or sectional titles. This is a progressive development. Many people may not be able to own even a quarter acre of land in urban centres. They may not even be able to own a sixth of it. Following the new concept in apartment building, somebody can own just a small section. It recognises condominiums and other forms of sectional ownership. That is important. Though I can see the recognition of those sectional units, I have not seen where we are talking of sectional titles. If you recognise sectional units, it will follow that it is important to provide for sectional titles. The involvement of claimants or people with claim to land or resident on those pieces of land when adjudication is being carried out as provided under Clause 6(a) is important. That is because people may sit on land that has been sub-divided on paper and is changing hands while they have no idea. Clause 6(a) provides that people who are resident on a parcel of land be notified when such land is being changed. Clause 5 will be relevant to squatters because it talks about people who have been on a piece of land having a mechanism of claiming ownership to it. That land may not be owned by anybody or owned by somebody. A mechanism has been set for them to write to the Ministry or the Cabinet Secretary (CS) concerned; asking for titles to those pieces of land. I have something on the qualification requiring that the registrars of land be lawyers or advocates of the High Court with five years experience. I have been to offices of lands. There are so many people who are working there. If you are going to overhaul the whole system and require that land registrars be advocates overnight and you are saying that any registrar of land without a degree in law will cease forthwith at the operationalisation of this law, it is unfair. If that was to happen, are we not creating a situation of chaos and disorder? Are we not creating a situation of delay in issuance of title deeds? The officers who are working as registrars may not be lawyers, but the amount of law they know about land can challenge very many lawyers on 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."
}