Report: Signs good for land reforms in Kenya

Bombo residents view some of the destroyed houses in Mombasa County following a land dispute

NAIROBI, KENYA: The Lands ministry and the National Land Commission have been challenged to seize the political goodwill they are beginning to enjoy to move the land sector agenda forward.

According to the Land Development and Governance Institute (LDGI), recent developments in the land sector offer a good opportunity for the two bodies, which had been at loggerheads until recently, to continue with land reforms in the country.

In a Land Watch report that accompanied LDGI’s 16th Scorecard Report launched in Nairobi on Tuesday this week, the land think-tank pointed out one of the positive developments in the sector as the Supreme Court’s decision to give the Lands ministry and NLC 90 days to iron out their differences.

DECISION

This decision was closely followed by high level interventions by the executive with the President and his deputy overseeing an agreement by the NLC and the ministry, binding them to work in complementarity.

LDGI says that while the details of the working agreement are not yet public, it is hoped that the NLC and the ministry will seize the spirit of the agreement and work together in discharging their public duties.

“The ministry and the commission need to work smart, seize and utilise the political and stakeholder goodwill to move programmes in Kenya’s land sector forward,” says the report.

The organisation says the two should use this moment to complete pending legislation and amendments, which include the Community Land Bill and amendments to the Land, Land Registration and National Land Commission Acts.

Subsidiary legislation to effectively operationalise the Land, Land Registration and National Land Commission Acts and other recently enacted land sector laws.

Physical Planning Bill; Eviction and Resettlement Bill; revised sectoral land use laws; legislation relating to natural resources; legislation relating to the environment; and legislation on the resolution of historical land injustices (National Land Commission Act).

LDGI has also challenged the Lands ministry and the NLC to issue title deeds and complete pending titling programmes.

“Pending titling programmes – adjudication schemes, subdivision of large company and co-operative farms, group ranches under subdivision or urban (re)settlement schemes (informal settlements) – should be expedited,” said the report, adding that communities keen on converting their community land to private ownership should also be facilitated once a Community Land Act is in place.

 SENSE OF SECURITY

This, it said, will give more Kenyans title deeds and a sense of security over the pieces of land they own and in return reduce disputes and promote our economy.

Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu said recently that some 200,000 title deeds would soon be issued in Meru County. Some of the associated adjudication schemes had been pending since pre-independence.