Kenya’s new land law must protect peasants

NAIROBI: The clamour to enact a law which proposes a tenure system that protects community land rights is as old as colonialism. The Community Land Bill (2015), discussed and moved through the second reading in Parliament last week, is the furthest successive regimes have gone in getting a law towards protection of communities that own land jointly.

For far too long, community land was treated as a poor cousin to registered individual land. The Bill is therefore a bold and radical attempt to reverse and change this historical anomaly and injustice that rendered millions of individuals and groups vulnerable to marginalisation, forced evictions and poverty.

Together with the Eviction and Resettlement Bill, it is noteworthy that the new Bill is the supposed output of a taskforce formed by former Lands minister James Orengo in 2012. However, a careful scrutiny of the Bill before Parliament shows that it isn’t the one prepared by a taskforce and underwent rigorous stakeholder review and input. It is a pity that public resources were used only to get a different outcome!

The input of the public in the formulation of the Bill is debatable considering residents of counties such as Laikipia, Isiolo, Garissa where vast lands are community owned, did not participate. Nevertheless, the Bill will herald a paradigm shift in the way community land is managed.

For oversight and conflict management, amendments must be effected to have a Community Land management committee to oversee and run the day to day operations of the communities. They should be between seven and 15 members in the committee for efficiency. I strongly advocate that any voting for a decision in this community assembly must have a one third representation of women and youth to bridge the glaring inequality and discrimination gap that exists in several communities.

The County Governments will hold the unregistered Community Land in trust for the communities. It is, however, not clear what transactions can take place on the unregistered community land by the County Governments. Amendments must be made to specify that the county government shall not sell, dispose, transfer or convert in any way unregistered community land for avoidance of doubt.

This Bill must protect ordinary wananchi from the elite. The past fortnight has seen land reform donor agency, ACT! hold community forums with several civil society groups in Isiolo, Laikipia, Kajiado and Nakuru counties. From these forums, cries of dispossession of community resources by a chosen few abound. A cabal of community leaders have enriched themselves and locked out ordinary mwananchi from benefiting from their resources.

The provision on how to address all the illegally and irregularly acquired community land must be included in this law. A schedule to compensate communities for land dealt with illegally since promulgation of the Constitution in 2010 should be included. This will reduce the growing anxiety by communities as the Bill heads for the final stretch.