National Land Commission urges foreign landowners to beat regularisation deadline

By Patrick Beja

Mombasa, Kenya: More than 30 foreigners have confessed they own large swathes of land in Coast Province, the National Land Commission has disclosed.

And as the commission revealed the 35 Monday, it warned the number could be higher for Coast and other parts as more foreigners are still seeking regularisation of their land following a 60-day public notice issued in June.

However, the Coast seems to have the highest number of foreign landowners going by the evidence available from the commission, which confirmed receiving about 100 applications from all over the country following the publication of the notice.

“We have received about 100 applications from foreign landowners. There are 12 days remaining before the 60-day public notice for regularisation of land for non-citizens expires,” NLC national chairman Mohamed Swazuri said.

Speaking at a retreat for 47 county Executive members responsible for land in Mombasa Monday, Dr Swazuri told non-citizen landowners that time was running out, adding that the speed with which they were disclosing their properties was low.

“A number of people have come up but we believe there are many more remaining and we request them to bring their documents,” he said.

Deadline expiry

NLC wants foreign landowners on land leases of more than 99 years to seek regularisation immediately and backdate this to 2010, when the Constitution was promulgated, if they have to continue owning the land.

The Constitution bans leases beyond 99 years and collapses all 999-year leases to 99 years. This means most 999-year leases granted at the start of the last century have expired or are about to.

Land experts have warned that NLC faces serious challenges as it enforces the new land laws on foreign ownership.

Odenda Lumumba, national coordinator for the Kenya Land Alliance, says it is a challenge to establish who a foreign landowner is because a number of non-citizens own businesses with Kenyans. He said most of the foreigners have companies incorporated in Kenya and it was hard to declare their land as foreign owned.

“Many foreigners are known to own businesses with locals and this complicates the matter when it comes to identifying foreign landowners. There has been no specific register for foreign landowners,” he said.

Mr Lumumba said regularising land for non-citizens would also require clear verification of land parcels and rules and regulations to be developed.

Naivasha evictions

He dismissed claims that the regularisation exercise could scare away foreign investors, saying non-citizens are protected under international law to expatriate their profits back to their countries with ease.

Land Development and Governance Institute Executive Director, Mwenda Makathimo, said last week the law on dual citizenship also posed challenges in identifying foreign landowners. “The law now provides for dual citizenship and therefore presents a challenge in identifying foreigners,” he warned.

Meanwhile Dr Swazuri said NLC was gathering facts on the disputed land in Naivasha, where hundreds of families from the Maa community have been evicted. “We will visit Naivasha this week and make our determination on the land after gathering all the facts.”