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{
    "id": 918992,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/918992/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 153,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Garissa Township, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Aden Duale",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 15,
        "legal_name": "Aden Bare Duale",
        "slug": "aden-duale"
    },
    "content": " Hon. Speaker, I beg to move the following Motion: THAT, pursuant to the provisions of Article 113(2) of the Constitution and Standing Order No.150, this House adopts the report of the Mediation Committee on the Land Value Index Laws (Amendment) Bill (National Assembly Bill No.3 of 2018) laid on the Table of the House on Tuesday, 2nd July 2019, and approves the mediated version of the Land Value Index Laws (Amendment) Bill. As you are aware, the House passed the Land Value Index Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018 and the Senate proposed amendments to the Bill which were rejected by this House hence the mediation process. The report before this House is, therefore, a culmination of a very tedious and painful negotiation. It was very painful. I am sure I have witnesses on both sides. At the end of the day we had to agree with our colleagues. Allow me to highlight. One of the most contentious issues was the title: Do we call it the “Land Value Index Bill’’? Our colleagues argued that we call it the “Land Laws (Amendment) Bill”. This Bill is, for the first time, setting a standard for the Government in terms of compensation when it comes to big projects. It is setting a standard for payment of Stamp Duty and land rates so that, for example, one does not say that his property ‘A’ costs Kshs2 billion and then when it comes to property ‘B’, he says it costs Kshs5 billion. Some of the key highlights were in respect of the aspects that were subjected to mediation and on the recommendations of the Committee in respect of the amendments. Hon. Speaker, with your permission, I would like to submit that in the Physical Planning Bill 2017, in respect of which the House adopted the Mediation Report, there were four key sticky issues at the mediation level. One of the issues which was about the appropriateness of the title of the Bill became very difficult. Some Members were wondering who would be an ‘occupant in good faith’. I am neither a land economist nor a land valuer. For the first time, I have learnt serious terms like “an occupant in good faith’. I am sure there are many people who would not understand that. So, we sat for days to define the term “an occupant in good faith” and agreed on it. The third issue was about the timeline within which the land value index should be devolved. Should it be 12 years or 10 years? Should it be six months? We eventually agreed that upon the Bill getting presidential assent and the Act being gazetted, the county governments and the national Government must bring to both Houses the Land Value Index for approval. The fourth issue was about who should be the members of the Land Acquisition Tribunal. This was very easy to deal with. There was provision for five members, whom should be surveyors and valuers. We note that surveyors and valuers are stakeholders and, therefore, there will be conflict of interest. We agreed that surveyors and valuers cannot sit in a tribunal to decide on matters in which communities or individuals who own land are unhappy with. All these issues have been in our Report. I do not want to dwell so much on them. Hon. Speaker, I am glad to observe that the Mediation Committee was finally able to conclude on this important Bill, which seeks to deal with issues of valuation and compulsory acquisition of land for public projects. I know that the Government encountered problems while acquiring land for construction of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), construction of roads and installation of electricity transmission lines. It is very sad that in our country land compensation is very expensive. The Government spends more on compensation for land compulsorily acquired for national projects than on the project itself. Such a thing does not happen in other countries. Recently, we saw in the media how property in Kajiado was overvalued. Homes of 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."
}