Why land reforms may be a mirage

The elusive land reforms in the country hang in the balance following piecemeal budgetary allocations to the National Land Commission, writes HAROLD AYODO

It is an open secret that land has been an emotive and thorny issue even before Independence and played a major role during the post-election violence in 2007/08.

However, the new Constitution provides a framework for land reforms towards improving a myriad challenges facing the sector.

The supreme law provides for the establishment of the National Land Commission (NLC) whose functions include managing public land on behalf of the national and county governments.

Others are to recommend a national land policy to the national government and advise on a comprehensive programme for registration of title deeds countrywide.

It will also initiate investigations either on its own initiative or on a complaint into present or historical land injustices and recommend appropriate redress.

But barely a week after Finance Minister Njeru Githae read the 2012/13 Budget, an exclusive report exposes glaring gaps that would hamper land reforms.

The report titled Budgeting for Land Reforms: Ensuring People’s Participation, says allocations to the NLC are piecemeal.

The study by Hakijamii and the International Budget Partnership (IBP) included reviews of audit reports by the Auditor General and the Ministry of Lands.

According to the report, the much awaited land reforms through the NLC remain a mirage following its laughable budgetary allocations.

Land Development and Governance Institute director Ibrahim Mwathane says lack of sufficient budgetary support is the surest way to defeat land reforms.

“Operationalisation of the NLC and the 47 county land boards would be impossible without funds,” Mwathane says.

According to the exclusive 39-page report, a paltry Sh125 million has been allocated to the NLC.

Running secretariat

Hakijamii executive director Odindo Opiata says their study reveals that the Sh125 million allocation only caters for salaries and allowances.

“The allocation caters for salaries and allowances for the chairman, deputy chairman and other NLC commissioners,” Opiata says.

Opiata, who is also an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, says there are no allocations for administrative functions.

“Setting up of the NLC and starting its constitutional operations on land reforms may therefore drag,” Opiata warns.

Even with funds set aside for the Ministry of Lands, a review of audit reports by the Auditor General paints a gloomy picture.

According to the Auditor General, spending of budget allocations at the Ministry of Lands is bedevilled by many challenges.

For instance, it is alleged there is perpetual annual under-expenditure, under-collection of earmarked revenues as well as presentation of incorrect accounts for audit.

Others are inefficient management of grants to settlement funds trustees, unsupported expenditure, expenditure without vouchers and pending bills.

“Another fundamental problem is the lack of transparency in budget information from the lands sector,” says the report.

IBP’s senior technical liaison and research fellow Dr Jason Lakin, who was involved in the study, says some budget information from the ministry are unavailable to the public.

“Readily available information is just estimates of expenditure books, which are written in technical language,” Dr Lakin says.

He says between 2011/12 and 2012/13, budgetary allocation to land reforms increased from Sh244 to Sh309 million.

“However, the increases include Sh43 million for printing and advertising and Sh47 million for hospitality services,” Lakin says.

There is also a large increase in the budget for the Ministry of Lands headquarters from Sh300 million to Sh491 million between 2011/12 to 2012/13.

“It is not clear why the ministry should vastly increase the size of its headquarters while majority of its responsibilities have been transferred to the NLC,” Lakin says.

According to Opiata, the true cost of implementing land reforms is not clear after key policy changes over the years.

According to the report, a detailed costing of land sector reforms carried out in 2005 estimated the cost over a six-year period to Sh10 billion.

Reforms cost

“The figures do not reflect changes in the reform process, which are as a result of the new Constitution,” Opiata says.

According to the National Land Policy, financing the Land Reform Programme will cost approximately Sh9.9 billion over a six-year period.

A significant proportion of the cost will be financed by internal revenue sources that will be available to the Commission.

It is further expected that effective implementation of the land reforms will more than double the Ministry’s annual collection estimated at Sh4 billion in 2007.

Lakin says there has been no attempt to update the estimated costs of reform arguing the allocations are far below requests by the Sector Working Group in 2012/13.

“The Sector requested about Sh7.5 billion and received Sh5 billion... the Sector report did not include extensive discussions on the cost of land reforms,” Lakin says.

According to the report, the lands sector has historically fallen short on budgeting, spending and accounting for resources.

“The Ministry of Lands has never fully spent its budget since 2007/08...it has spent only 88 per cent,” the report says.

It further accuses Ardhi House for being cited repeatedly by the Auditor General over the last several years for failing to present accurate financial statements for auditing.

“There are also rampant unsupported expenditures at the level of district offices resulting into millions of shillings expenses that cannot be verified,” says the report.

For instance, reports by the Auditor General shows that on September 10, 2008, the Kirinyaga District Lands Office spent Sh3,597,590 that could not be accounted for.

The office was issued with an Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) No. 462792 for Sh4,494,560 to pay pending bills to Land Disputes and Boards in the district.

Out of the amount, Sh3,597,590 was paid to Lands Tribunal members for sitting, transport and lunch allowances between 2004 and 2008.

However, related documents in support of the payments, including dates of the sittings, minutes of meetings and attendance registers were not availed for audit review.

In the Nyandarua North District Land Office, the Auditor General reported that the District Land Officer made payments totalling Sh3,054,500. Other payments as allowances to the District Land Tribunal and Lands Control Board of Sh2,301,500 and Sh753,000 respectively.

Ironically, the hefty amounts were not signed by people purported to have received the money. Instead the money was collected by third parties.

The script was near similar in Bungoma South District Land Office where the Auditor General also raised the red flag.

The audit revealed that revenue collections by the clerk amounting to Sh6,455,317 between July 2010 and June 2011 were not banked.

Integrity concerns

Instead, they were held by the cashier in form of fictitious receipts of Sh4,293,829, IOUs of Sh1,857,975 and stale cheques worth Sh147,913.

Others were inter-borrowing deposit of Sh148,600 and cash shortage of Sh7,303. Serial numbers of the fictitious receipts were for receipt books that had not been issued as per the counter receipt register while IOU chits were not properly authorised with some dating 2008.

Mwathane says that the Ministry of Lands also lacks enough reformers to turn around the emotive sector.

“We need a clear road map for both mid and long-term reforms, which must include proper budgetary allocation, accountability and transparency,” Mwathane says.

According to Opiata, the Government should seek ways of increasing funding to the NLC towards realising land reforms.

“The Government would prove its seriousness towards solving perennial land issues by financially supporting the NLC,” Opiata says.