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{
    "id": 951449,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/951449/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 16,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Murkomen",
    "speaker_title": "The Senate Majority Leader",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 440,
        "legal_name": "Onesimus Kipchumba Murkomen",
        "slug": "kipchumba-murkomen"
    },
    "content": "“squatters” in relation to any citizen of this country is a great shame. Just the same way we confidently talk about people whom we call “slum dwellers”, it is an insult on the integrity of the people of Kenya. It is the responsibility of the State to ensure that its citizens are settled or re-settled to ensure that people can live with dignity in this country, which is a constitutional right. I, therefore, support this. I speak as a person who knows the pain of being a son of a squatter, moving from one corner to another; being evicted by the police and the impact it has on the right to education, health and dignity. I remember every time our houses were burnt when we were small children, we would be forced to go and sleep under trees and caves. The Speaker knows the place; he was the District Commissioner (DC) of that area. He knows very well what we went through even though he came much later when a lot of those atrocities had been committed. When I hear that anybody is living in shanties or without shelter, it concerns me. Article 43 of Constitution talks about social economic rights and states that it is the duty of the State to ensure its people are settled. It is also the duty of the State to ensure that Kenyans enjoy the right to a clean environment. We must protect our forests. We have no resource that can be elastic. Therefore, it is important to protect Embobut Forest where I come from, the whole of Cherang’any Hills, Mt. Elgon Forest in your County, Mau Forest which is in seven counties and Mt. Kenya Forest which is in about four counties. Mr. Speaker, Sir, this duty does not absolve the State of ensuring that as we do so, our citizens live a dignified life. This idea that State officers speak with a lot of contempt of citizens and use language like “I do not care” with a lot of bravado and hubris, belongs to the pre 2010 Constitution. The post 2010 Constitution is about cooperation; sitting down and consulting with citizens to ensure that everything is done within the Constitution and the confines of the protection of personal rights and with an intention of ensuring that you further the welfare of the citizens of this country. I hope the Committee that will investigate this matter will come back to this House with strong views and recommendations that are implementable. I want to challenge the Committee on Lands, Environment and Natural Resources to come up with a very good report. Do not be surprised if that report will be the same report that will be found in the United Nations (UN) circles. It may also be used in the African Court on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) and many other fora, including the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) when these citizens are looking for fairness and justice. You can see they are already saying that they have done this and that, but they have not succeeded. They have come to the Senate because they have faith in this House. The report that we will prepare should be implemented by our Government. However, where they are unable to do so, further mechanisms or processes of accountability will ensue and the document we would have prepared will be very useful for it. Mr. Speaker, Sir, I support."
}