HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 810199,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/810199/?format=api",
"text_counter": 593,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Isiolo North, KPP",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Hassan Hulufo",
"speaker": {
"id": 13348,
"legal_name": "Hassan Oda Hulufo",
"slug": "hassan-oda-hulufo-2"
},
"content": "I want to start by thanking the Departmental Committee on Lands for coming up with a very comprehensive Report based on the Petition relating to the land in Ruaraka. I would like to highlight a few issues in the Report. Let me start by saying that I fully agree with the recommendation of the Committee. The process of acquiring land compulsorily for public use is clearly spelt out in our Constitution. There are clear provisions in our Constitution, especially Article 40(3) as well as the Land Act 2012, which provides for clear procedures on how the Government can acquire land compulsorily from private land owners. It is amazing that land which has been in public use where a school has been operating from for the last 30 years is being acquired in 2018. Ideally, when the Government acquires land through compulsory acquisition, what we would expect is that there is need for land to be set up for some public utility. According to the provisions of the law, especially the Land Act, 2012, the proposal has to come from the relevant organs of the national Government or county government. This is specifically the County Executive Committee Member responsible for the department which requires that the PS, land or the CS, in the case of the national Government, under whom the department that requires that land falls, is responsible. Looking at this Report, we realise that the process was initiated from the National Land Commission (NLC), which is against the provisions of the existing laws. It is the NLC which wrote to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology seeking some advice on how it can acquire land for a school which has been in existence for the last 31 years. Again, if you look at the process of compensation, the valuation of the land which was to be acquired should be arrived at through very clear procedures. Looking at the Report and the finding of the Committee, it is very clear that there has been outright violation of all existing regulations as relates to compulsory acquisition of land for public use. Therefore, the recommendation of the Committee to hold NLC accountable for the loss of Kshs1.5 billion is quite in order. I agree with it and I support it. When I look at the amount of money we have lost and the needs that we have in sectors like education, especially in the ASAL areas where most of our schools have no facilities and I try to count the number of laboratories which we can set up in our day schools using that money; I look at the number of dispensaries that can be constructed using this money which, from the look of the Report, allocated to a purported private land owner fraudulently, it is very amazing. I did some simple calculation as a pastoralist and realised that what we lost, in pastoralist terms, amounts to close to 30,000 camels, if I were to explain to my constituents in the language that they understand. Therefore, it is very important for us as a House, which has the responsibility of safeguarding the wealth of this country, especially now that we have budget deficits, to try and make sure that public officers who abuse their offices, who collude with private land owners and fraudulently rob us of our hard-earned money as a nation, are made to account for their wrong deeds. I fully agree that the NLC, which is mandated by the Constitution and the Lands Act to be the constitutional commission responsible for enabling all Government institutions to acquire land for public use, be held fully responsible. I agree that other Government departments, especially the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology whose views were sought; the The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}