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{
    "id": 812200,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/812200/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 91,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Orengo",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Minority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 129,
        "legal_name": "Aggrey James Orengo",
        "slug": "james-orengo"
    },
    "content": " Mr. Speaker, Sir, I thank the Senator for bringing this important matter. You realize in our Constitution there are provisions to do with land use and land use planning. Those provisions were put there out of the realization that land was being acquired and used anyhow and this should be a wakeup call to the citizenry: That land use and land use planning would be part of our development component. In Nairobi during the colonial days, there used to be a master plan. In 1948, this city had a master plan. Had we followed that master-plan, this city would be a much better place. For example, there were areas that were not supposed to have high-rise buildings. It is by sheer anarchy and impunity that this city has come to be what it is. However, I agree with those people who were talking about having an even-handed approach. This is because the problem has been with grabbers in the land ministry. For example, you see a grown up man and somebody who understands the law. He buys land right on top of Nairobi River and builds a major high-rise building, expecting that nothing will happen. Only when he is told to bring that building down, is when they realize that something wrong happened somewhere. Once there are laws in place, the responsible officers should not wait until there is a development like the one in Mlolongo, Athi River. They should be there right at the beginning to make sure that such a thing does not take place. Therefore, I hope that we will be more conscious about use of land and land use planning so that people do not have to go through what they are going through at the moment. This city would have been one of the greatest cities in the world. In Washington DC, they decided long time ago that you cannot build a building taller that the Capital Hill and the Washington Memorial. In London, you cannot build a building taller than St. Paul’s Cathedral. That has been the case over centuries. However, in Nairobi, you find somebody who knows better and has been a senior person in government doing exactly the opposite. I hope that for this particular matter that has been brought to us, we shall feel the pain for those who are being told to be evicted. Once people have been allowed to build, please execute whatever orders you are executing with a humane approach so that people do not have to suffer unnecessarily. However, let us plan to develop and not try to catch up with development. We have got it wrong. We have to plan to develop and not the other way round."
}