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{
    "id": 946081,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/946081/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 123,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Mt. Elgon, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Fred Kapondi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 523,
        "legal_name": "Catherine Nanjala Wambilianga",
        "slug": "catherine-nanjala-wambilianga"
    },
    "content": "country. It started with the late President Jomo Kenyatta in 1971, and it is being accomplished by President Uhuru Kenyatta. Chepyuk was a settlement that was created in exchange of Chepkitale. People have been living in Chepkitale from 1930s. But by 1971, our first Member of Parliament (MP), Hon. Daniel Moss petitioned President Jomo Kenyatta, at that time, on the same. An agreement was reached and Chepyuk was excised out of the forest for settlement of the Ndorobo from Chepkitale. From 1971 to date, the settlement has not been regularised. That is the reason why, for a period of time, we have had issues related with insecurity arising out of the Government’s failure to regularise the settlement for those people. Let me be clear, the people of Mt. Elgon have suffered for long. The Government has been slow in implementing the regularisation for those people to get their title deeds. I remember in 1989, for failure to have title deeds, those people were displaced and many of them lost their lives and livestock. Thereafter, after petitioning the former President Moi, there was a promise to regularise it, but it was not done. That brought serious insecurity issues in 1996. This move to finally settle, once and for all, the issue of Chepyuk is a welcome relief for the people of Mt. Elgon. I would urge the plenary not to consider introducing any amendment to this Report. As the wearer of the shoe, I know where it pinches most. There is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Mt. Elgon that is gaining a lot of notoriety in terms of trying to oppose this regularisation. They have their own ill intentions. This NGO is called Chepkitale People’s Indigenous Development Project. It is getting millions of shillings. The owners of the NGO, under the guise of promoting conservation, are buying land for their own in Kitale. So, the House is doing the right thing by correcting a historical injustice that the people of Mt. Elgon have carried on for a long period of time. As my colleagues have said, it is important that other areas of this country are also considered. There are people who are living in areas that were initially forests, but the Government never took any move to degazettment them. They have invested heavily, for example, in Kitale, some areas in Turbo and where Hon. Iringo said in Nyambene. Without a title deed, somebody cannot be foolproof that the land belongs to him or her. So, the move that the Executive is doing should extend to other areas, so that other Kenyans do not suffer as the people of Mt. Elgon. Once again, I urge my colleagues to adopt this Report as it is. Let us not open a Pandora’s Box. What is happening is that lack of regularisation is prompting people to move to Chepkitale. If regularisation is not done and the people move back to Chepkitale, there will be a serious ecological disaster for this country. The kind of damage that will occur will be massive and irreparable. With those remarks, colleagues, support the people of Mt. Elgon by passing this Motion. Thank you."
}