HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 963740,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/963740/?format=api",
"text_counter": 37,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Sen. Halake",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": {
"id": 13184,
"legal_name": "Abshiro Soka Halake",
"slug": "abshiro-soka-halake"
},
"content": "order for the Cabinet Secretary (CS) to gazette this illegal notice, which we are challenging in court, as we speak. Why has the Commissioner for Lands still not been appointed, and who would do this job in his absence? These are the questions that we are asking. The Government and Ministry should not do an inventory of public land prior to identifying community land. This goes against what we have given already and, therefore, we say, no to the illegal gazette notice. As communities of Isiolo, we have seen, with that notice that a lot of the community land is overlapping. We have been told that it is only for urban areas, but what is an urban area? What is the acreage of an urban area? Who determines an urban area? Who decides what this urban area should look like, or why and who owns it? Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, it is very unfair for the Government, which should ideally be a custodian and a trustee of community land, to go and use its powers in the wrong way. They are using things like wanton gazettement to deny communities their rights to the grazing areas, the rights to ownership of community titles and the rights to identification, demarcation and ownership of their lands. Pastoral land security means ensuring that loses to pastoralists are minimized. Ideally, this includes helping communities to know about their rights under the Community Land Act, which we are currently doing, and lease land to investors even in cases where investment is envisaged. Both levels of government should not be on a land grab mission from communities by shifting boundaries, sometimes not necessarily physically, but also through definition of what public and private land is. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the procedure for securing land is straightforward; it is contained in law, but is being ignored. Therefore, we say no to this kind of wanton conversion of land that is not following any legal procedures as laid down both in the Community Land Act and the Land Act, 2012 as well. I condemn any attempt by the county government or the national Government, for that matter, to disinherit communities through gazzetement. I do not think that gazzetement is enough to deny them their right to have the community land demarcated, an inventory made and community titles issued. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the Lands Act, 2012 defines public purposes too broadly, including for private commercial use. Therefore, the risks are very high. This is why we say adjudication, at this juncture, when the private commercial users have not been defined well and the open ended nature of public purpose needs to be reined in or procedures greatly improved, for us to accept these kinds of adjudication. A lot of work has to be done, but it must be done legally within law and within the Community Land Act, 2016, for it to make sense for communities in Northern Kenya, especially for communities in Isiolo. I support and repeat that Legal Notice No.150 declaring Isiolo an adjudication area is illegal. We ask for its revocation immediately."
}