{"count":1608389,"next":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=139717","previous":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/?format=json&page=139715","results":[{"id":1413571,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1413571/?format=json","text_counter":627,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Kilifi North, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Owen Baya","speaker":null,"content":"Section 14 (1) of the National Land Commission Act says: (1) Subject to Article 68 (c)(v) of the Constitution, the Commission shall, within five years of the commencement of this Act, on its own motion or upon a complaint by the national or a county government, a community or The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"},{"id":1413572,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1413572/?format=json","text_counter":628,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Kilifi North, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Owen Baya","speaker":null,"content":"an individual, review all grants or dispositions of public land to establish their propriety or legality. The amendment seeks to delete the words “within five years”. This time restriction has killed the NLC, as it is not constitutionally required. Many people residing at the Coast have lost hope because of this limitation. My amendment proposes a deletion of the time limit so that the NLC can receive, handle and determine as many cases as possible. Hon. Temporary Speaker, the Bill further proposes to amend Section 14 (9) of the NLC Act by deleting which provides that the Commission may, where it considers it necessary, petition Parliament to extend the period for undertaking the review specified in sub-section (1). When the law lapsed, no institution came to this House to request for an extension. By deleting the words “within five years” subsequently, we must also delete Section 14 (9) of that law. Currently, the Commission receives a budget from this National Assembly. It has offices, but its work is impeded from addressing any complaints dealing with public land and providing redress even when there are evident and apparent cases of illegality in the disposition of public land because of time limitations. As we speak, NLC is a lame duck. It is a dog that cannot bite. It is an institution that does not help. There are so many cases that we have received, especially from the Coast, of public land that was stolen. The reason why there are so many squatters for whom this Government allocates a lot of money to buy land that should not have been bought is because we have killed the NLC. There is an array of hope for the many squatters that have been waiting for justice for many years. I invite Members of this House to seize this opportunity and liberate land at the Coast and allow all the squatters to find solace in this Parliament so that, for once, they will own land, develop, and have an opportunity to be like other Kenyans. Section 15(3A)(e) of the principal Act provides that a historical land claim may only be admitted, registered and processed by the Commission, if it is brought within five years of the commencement of this Act. This provision is hereby deleted by this Bill. I invite Members to join me in deleting this very oppressive part of the law so that we can give Kenyans an opportunity. Many people will say I am moving this Bill because of the people at the Coast. There are people in the Rift Valley, especially in Kericho, who are suffering because of this part. They want to petition NLC to get help, but they cannot because of this unconstitutional provision. This Bill further proposes to amend Section 15 of the NLC Act by deleting sub-section 11, which provides that the provisions of the section shall stand repealed within 10 years. This amendment will allow the Commission to continuously admit, register and process historical injustice claims, and handle disputes that have not been brought up within the limitation period uninterruptedly. I must say this in the House: There are many people out there who are afraid and peddling lies that my amendments will make NLC investigate private land. I want to put it on record in this House that: All that is private land was once public land. How it transitioned from public to private is what we want to know. Just that. Why are people so afraid? Why would you be afraid of this amendment? Historical land injustice hearings have been there, but they have not done any harm to anyone. The NLC has been hearing such cases, and no one has been targeted. Today, we bring this amendment, and people say we are targeting them. We are not targeting anyone. We want squatters in this country to have an opportunity to own land. People with historical claims, such as those who went to the Njonjo Commission or the Ndung'u Commission or other commissions, will have a reprieve and take their claims to NLC. They will be heard and a determination made. If you did not steal any public land, you will have your land. But if you stole public land and it had people on it, please give it up because it belongs to those people. Amendments to Section 15…"},{"id":1413573,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1413573/?format=json","text_counter":629,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Kilifi North, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Owen Baya","speaker":null,"content":"The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"},{"id":1413574,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1413574/?format=json","text_counter":630,"type":"scene","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"(Technical hitch)"},{"id":1413575,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1413575/?format=json","text_counter":631,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Martha Wangari","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":13123,"legal_name":"Martha Wangari","slug":"martha-wangari"},"content":" Hold on. We have a problem with technology."},{"id":1413576,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1413576/?format=json","text_counter":632,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Kilifi North, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Owen Baya","speaker":null,"content":" Hon. Temporary Speaker, sorry. You know Hon. Kamket is my friend and so, I can say a few things to him. All the amendments that we want to make will bring significant changes as they will transform the review of the Commission from a bound, time-limited endeavour into an open- minded, ongoing activity. There are many cases that are relating to grants. The judicial system in this country is very expensive for peasants in the Coast and in many other places. They cannot afford to hire a lawyer to defend a case in court. They do not have that luxury. The NLC was actually formed as a quasi-judicial commission to give poor people an opportunity to be heard. If people claim that a poor person's land at the Coast or any other region is theirs, the poor person cannot get justice at the courts. The NLC gives people, both the rich and the poor, an opportunity to be heard. For us to kill NLC using a statute of the House and yet the Constitution gave people an opportunity to be heard is to be unjust to this country and to the"},{"id":1413577,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1413577/?format=json","text_counter":633,"type":"scene","speaker_name":"","speaker_title":"","speaker":null,"content":"hoi polloi"},{"id":1413578,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1413578/?format=json","text_counter":634,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Kilifi North, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Owen Baya","speaker":null,"content":"of this nation. I urge Members that this is the opportunity we must stand up to defend the poor people who cannot afford to go to court to claim their land. This is the opportunity for those who have long been oppressed to get a solution to their problem. This is the opportunity for us, as Members of Parliament, to stand with the spirit of the Constitution and be counted as people who stood up when everyone else did not want poor people to be represented. I beg Members who sit in this Chamber to consider those people who have suffered historically, those who have never seen a title deed from 1963, those whose title deeds have been quashed by other bodies, and those whose lands have been grabbed by people who only know how to grab land. Even the Mau fought for freedom, but when they came back, the land that they owned had been taken away by those people who sided with the British. This is the moment. This is the opportunity. I urge this House to stand with the poor of this country and give them an opportunity to be heard using NLC. It is the only last frontier for the poor people of this country. I request the Chairman of the Departmental Committee on Lands to second this Bill. Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker."},{"id":1413579,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1413579/?format=json","text_counter":635,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"Hon. Martha Wangari","speaker_title":"The Temporary Speaker","speaker":{"id":13123,"legal_name":"Martha Wangari","slug":"martha-wangari"},"content":" Hon. Joash Nyamoko."},{"id":1413580,"url":"http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1413580/?format=json","text_counter":636,"type":"speech","speaker_name":"North Mugirango, UDA","speaker_title":"Hon. Joash Nyamoko","speaker":null,"content":" Thank you, Hon. Temporary Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to second this Bill. Let me thank the Member for Kilifi North for the passionate way he has moved this Bill. I can confirm that we had an opportunity to sit with the Member. We had discussions and robust engagements. We realised that these amendments will go a long way in ensuring that we resuscitate the activities of NLC. The objective of this Bill is to amend Section 14 of the NLC Act to restore the power of the Commission to review the status of public land for propriety and legality. In addition, the Bill seeks to amend Section 15 of the Act to enable the Commission to continue admitting and processing historical land injustice claims, which lapsed on 21st September 2021. The power of the Commission to review grants and process historical land injustices expired, leading to a gap in its mandate. As a result, many historical land injustices and claims remain unsolved due to time limits necessitating the restoration of the Commission's authority in this regard. At the moment, the National Land Commission is unable to process some of the cases that have been reported to it simply because of time limits. What is being proposed here is a continuation and sustainability of those very emotive aspects of injustices. The Bill underwent its First Reading on Wednesday, 27th September 2023, and it was subjected to public participation in accordance with the constitutional requirements and our Standing Orders. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor"}]}