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{
    "id": 710840,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/710840/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 373,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Hon. Okoth",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 12482,
        "legal_name": "Kenneth Odhiambo Okoth",
        "slug": "kenneth-odhiambo-okoth"
    },
    "content": "I mention these as we talk about land issues to tell you that things are bad. They are far from rosy. The leadership of NLC and the Ministry need to sit and engage properly. Whenever they engage on sensitive land issues, it is only fair that they engage representatives of the people, from MCAs to the governors at the county levels who have got prerogative and a say on land issues, to the elected Members of Parliament. We can give them feedback. We have heard a lot of corruption going on in this country recently. When you think about corruption, it extends to processes like land ownership and the rights of the poorest. Through corrupt means, the rights of poor people will be trampled upon while Government land is stolen to the benefit of private interests who have more money, whether it is the cement company in Kilifi that is trying to take advantage through their own connections as the Report indicates, or whether it is in a place like Kibra where the contractor wants to build the road and get paid. The Ministry is aware that there is a law in Kenya, the IDP Act of 2012 that provides clearly for the rights of citizens, planning procedure, public participation and the expectations of IDPs due to development projects. It is not an emergency. It is not a surprise. It is not a fire catastrophe or a flooding. These are bulldozers coming to move people out of their homes deliberately and yet the decency to engage Kenyan citizens who are sovereign, you just get arrogant. We have petitioned the KNCHR to engage with them. Some of the people in the community have collected their little monies from their small businesses to hire lawyers to take this case to court, but the intimidation proceeds. We have bulldozers there every day phasing through the community because the contractor is in a hurry. The Ministry people are telling us interesting things which are just unacceptable, like these people are not real owners, they are squatters. There is a Nubian woman there aged 65 years. This is the only home she has known. She is Kenyan. You tell her she is a squatter and you want to move a bulldozer without telling her what compensation and resettlement plans you have. On land and human rights issues, we have to be very careful. There are cases that came through a petition this week from Nandi, where they are talking about land that is owned by tea factories and tea companies. We need to be serious and ask the duty bearers who are working for the citizens in the Ministry and NLC, if they cannot do their job; they are putting our people’s lives at risk. These are serious issues. They are creating ground for conflict. We should even look at getting rid of them and bring people who have better inclination, competence, capacity, and desire to do good work. There are many Kenyans who can do good work for us. I will give the example of today. The Cabinet Secretary for Education, Science and Technology, Dr. Matiang’i, and the new Chairman of the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC), Prof. Magoha, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nairobi, have managed to do something we have never seen in this country before. They have done their job and they have done it very well. People are celebrating and congratulating them which, ironically, is sad because they have just done their job well. They released results of the KCPE exams. This is something we were used would come after Christmas. Children would scramble to go to school in February. Now children will go to school in January. We have serious Kenyans who can do a good job. I want to put it on record that I am very proud of CS Matiang’i and Prof. Magoha and the team at the KNEC and the Ministry. They have done a fantastic job with these 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."
}