Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 850992,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/850992/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 323,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Cheruiyot",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13165,
        "legal_name": "Aaron Kipkirui Cheruiyot",
        "slug": "aaron-cheruiyot"
    },
    "content": "of the land. I was almost convinced to agree with them, but changed my mind after listening to the direction that you, the Deputy Speaker, gave a few minutes ago. You said that it is a provision of international law that before you relocate people, they must have been compensated. The truth of the matter is that I had not thought of it that way. There are people who put a lot of barriers on the way as the Government tries to implement some of these projects. Therefore, that is the mischief that was being cured here. One can move so long as they have a letter of credit. What we may need to add on is what the Government can give to the people who are being shifted, which will be equivalent to the value of money, in a situation where the Government does not have the resources to pay for the land at that particular time. In that case, they can give you a letter of credit and that kind of thing. We should not leave it open. I see a lot of sense on what is being persuaded and what we are being told. If we make it legal for the Government to just show up the following morning and tell you, ‘please get out of this land we want to do something’, we will be opening a very dangerous path that I do not think we need to consider. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, The doctrine of separation of powers with regards to the Legislature versus the Judiciary is something that we have discussed here quite a number of times before. We will be put to a lot of test with regards to this provision, where we want to restrict courts from issuing orders or stopping development of land which has been formally taken by the NLC through compulsory acquisition and where funds have not been committed. Unfortunately for this, I agree with this Bill. I have always asked the reason as to why we are always told that a matter is sub judice . Parliament is constituted of representatives of the members of the public from the entire Republic. The 67 Senators gathered here represent the 45 million Kenyans across the country. Therefore, who is this that can sit somewhere and purport to have more powers than the institution of Parliament? We know that Article 1 of the Constitution states that power belongs to the people and they can exercise it directly or indirectly, through their representatives, and these are the people that sit in this House. Therefore, I have never agreed with many of our friends in the legal circles who always say that we must respect the sanctity of the courts and that kind of argument. I agree with this provision that if we pass this particular law as it is, we have done it for the interest of the people of Kenya. Therefore, nobody should challenge it elsewhere and say that courts should determine. The courts can have their place on particular matters but on issues like this where we have spoken firmly, it should be left to rest at that. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I have a challenge with the composition of the land acquisition tribunal. Who is the representative for counties? All the land that we are discussing that is being bought here and there is happening in our counties. Unfortunately, The National Assembly never saw through it. Therefore, I request the Committee that will look through this to consider adding at least one or two nominees nominated by the Council of Governors (CoGs). We will need to domesticate some of these laws that we are making nationally at our county assemblies. For example, if the County Government of Homa Bay wants to do a particular project and they need to move masses, some of the laws that they need to The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate"
}