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{
    "id": 960839,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/960839/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 391,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Seme, ODM",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. (Dr.) James Nyikal",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 434,
        "legal_name": "James Nyikal",
        "slug": "james-nyikal"
    },
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to contribute to this Bill. This is an extremely important Bill that I rise to support. It gives us an opportunity to control the growth of towns and ownership of property in the growing towns. With our devolution, a lot of towns will come into place. It is important to start managing how property will be owned in those towns at this early stage. Land is becoming extremely expensive. Therefore, it will be very difficult for all of us to own it. We cannot subdivide infinitely. It will reach a point where we cannot subdivide it further. This Bill gives us the opportunity to own property not only on land but also in the air. We can start to own space as well when we deal with issues of flats. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly fashionable for people to live in gated communities which are single property units. In those circumstances, it is important for the people who live there to own those properties and be involved in their management. This has been extremely difficult for people who have been living in flats. This Bill solves that problem. I, therefore, support this Bill. I am really impressed by the provision in part 2 of the Bill which says that right from the beginning when plans are being made, sectional plans will be made with clear knowledge and intention that when these units come into place, they will be owned by individuals, although they are in a single unit. Therefore, the plan takes that into consideration. They will also be managed. People will have titles and certificates of the properties. That planning is extremely important. The Bill provides for the establishment of an entity that is owned together by all the people or families who have units in which they live and have invested in. The establishment and management of this entity, how it is constituted, and the role of the individual owners in it is clearly set out. As the Members have said, management agents have literary taken over units and have power over the owners. In this situation, this corporation takes the powers of the management agents to the hands of the owners of the units. However, of course, even the corporations themselves, if we are not careful, in their constitution, may become just as powerful and possessive. Those are the things we can look at in details. For example, Clause 17(6) indicates that the corporations are not subject to company law. I am not a lawyer, but that is one area we will have to look at and see if it is possible for the corporations to be excluded from that law. Clause 19 says that where there is a conflict between this Act and other laws, this Act will prevail. That sounds like something we need to look at so that in the Committee of the whole House, we can amend it. 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."
}