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{
    "id": 811478,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/811478/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 263,
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Madam Temporary Speaker, I have seen in a part of the Bill that we are going to have a Private-Public Partnership (PPP) arrangement. Consequently, we need to instil confidence in investors so that going forward, this arrangement can work. Madam Temporary Speaker, looking at Clause 43, this issue of the National Land Commission (NLC) is a dangerous monster. We saw in the issue of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), where there was a case between the NLC and some people, including some environmental activists. The NLC is a creature of the Constitution, but it has now become a dangerous dragon. Its tentacles are expanding at a supersonic speed, which is very disturbing. We, therefore, need to relook at the role of NLC in terms of compulsory land acquisitions anywhere in the country. I know that a bypass has been proposed to be constructed in Uasin Gishu from a place called Cheplaskei all the way to Turbo. The money is there, but the NLC wants to decide how much they will pay for your land. So, you will find that people with land in the same area are being paid different rates despite the fact that most of them have title deeds. It is the same monster that we are feeding. We are enriching the NLC. It is like a child who has grown up to be a rogue. The NLC is now a rogue child we have in this country. That is why we have so many litigations against SGR compulsory acquisition of land. Let us re-look at the role of the NLC so that our people will not be exploited because our people are poor. If you tell them you will pay Kshs1 million for one acre somewhere where the road bypass will pass, and then somebody else is paid Kshs5 million per acre. Due to the poverty that we have in this country we are opening opportunities for cartels and other people to take advantage of our people. Madam Temporary Speaker, Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. only looked at Clause 47. There is a danger lurking in Clause 48 that we need to re-look at. As I speak, the issues we have in mining; like the rights of mining, titanium, mining rights in Migori and even in my county in Chemase, are brought about by exploitation of people whose land has been taken. We need to protect these people. If the law will not protect them, who else will do so? The same NLC is fleecing and taking advantage of the people’s ignorance. With regard to the Turkana oil issue, people are now protesting and blocking the roads. They want the issue of health, the value of natural resource and the environment to be addressed. So, even as we allow some of these things to happen, we must look at the environmental hazards. We must read the article in the Constitution on Environmental Rights. It is said to be between the owner and failure to agree. You are just exposing the owner. You can imagine someone who is illiterate and the bypassing is passing by his land. You then tell that person to agree with KeNHA or KURA. That is why you will find that when you go there as a leader, people will still complain because they did it out of ignorance. Somebody will tell them your land is worth Kshs100,000 and yet they have never handled more than Kshs10,000 in all their lives. They will take that Kshs100,000, but in the real sense, the value of their land is more than that. Going forward, let us protect our people from exploitation. I wanted to touch on what Sen. Mutula Kilonzo Jnr. said because water resources is very important for people The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}