Expectations as Lands CS Jacob Kaimenyi lands stormy docket

At long last, the Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development has a substantive minister. Prof Jacob Kaimenyi last week replaced Dr Fred Matiang’i who had been acting for months following the stepping aside of Charity Ngilu nearly 10 months ago due to corruption allegations.

To her credit, Ngilu initiated a number of institutional reforms, including the much-publicised reorganisation of land registries across the country.

Members of Kihiu-Mwiri Land Company in Murang’a County protest outside Ardhi House in Nairobi demanding that the government releases their title deeds in this file photo. Dr Fred Matiang’a had to deal with controversies at the company when he was the acting Lands CS. (PHOTOs: JENIPHER WACHIE and DENISH OCHIENG'/ STANDARD)

However, the two-week closure of the main land offices in Nairobi caused furore within the sector and saw the turf wars between her and the Chairman of the National Land Commission Dr Muhammad Swazuri escalate, hampering service delivery at the ministry.

Unilateral

NLC had accused Ngilu of usurping the powers of the commission and making unilateral decisions.

Exit Ngilu and in came Matiang’i in an acting capacity. Again, his stint at the ministry saw him confront a number of hot issues that few dared to tackle conclusively.

Among these were the never ending wrangles in one of Kenya’s biggest land buying companies, Kihiu Mwiri, whose directors were being murdered every now and then. Some are still missing.

Before his exit following President Uhuru Kenyatta’s first Cabinet reshuffle, Matiang’i had faced off with stakeholders in the industry over the amendments to the Physical Planning Bill, National Land Bill and the Community Land Bill, which have set the NLC and county governments on a collision course with the Lands ministry.

Some have opposed the amendments terming them illegal, but according to Matiang’i, this is exactly what the doctor ordered for the complex land registration issue.

“The bills, which require the amendment of the National Land Commission Act, the Lands Act and the Land Registration Act, will solve the overlapping powers of NLC and the Ministry. If passed, they will end historical injustices and widespread challenges, which have hampered land rights...,” said Matiang’i in early October.

Kaimenyi will be expected to steer one of the most volatile dockets that is at the heart of every land-related matter in the country. His energy will come in handy in dismantling cartels that have made the Lands office their playground, defrauding Kenyans with conniving insiders.

“The ministry now has a substantive minister. We now expect improvements in service delivery as well as a faster speed in the reform agenda,” says Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK) chair Paul Wambua. “We also expect him to forge a good working relationship with the NLC.”

According to Wambua, Kaimenyi should take the cue from Matiang’i who tried to sort out some long-standing land matters with some success. Among the professional bodies that will soon come knocking on his door is the Kenya Property Developers Association, a body that is in the forefront of lobbying for adequate legislation for the members’ benefit.

“We have long complained about the slow process of acquiring vital documents needed by the construction industry. Many of these take months to procure and it is our hope that Prof Kaimenyi will help in speeding up the process,” says Elizabeth Mwangi-Oluoch, KPDA CEO.

Away from the good wishes, Kaimenyi will also have to deal with those on the other side of the divide who feel his appointment to head the ministry was done for political expediency rather than out of the need to speed up reforms.

Qualifications

Among these is Kenya Land Alliance national coordinator Odenda Lumumba. Not one to mince his words, Lumumba says there is no cause to celebrate Kaimenyi’s entry into the Lands Ministry.

He wondered what the intention of the executive was in putting Kaimenyi “who has no professional qualifications in land matters” to head that docket.

He told Home and Away last week that if Kaimenyi’s combative nature at the Ministry of Education is anything to go by, then Kenyans are in for a rough time as far as land matters are concerned.

“The Land blls were hurriedly put before Parliament by Matiang’i without broader consultations as required by the Constitution. Does Kaimenyi have what it takes to bring back the confidence of stakeholders as far as the bills are concerned, or are we just about to witness a fresh round of confrontations as happened in the education sector?” he wondered.

Lumumba thinks that Kaimenyi’s appointment has more to do with politics than setting the reform agenda rolling at ministry. He said “it is a bit curious” that Kaimenyi was appointed to head the Lands docket at a time there is a raging border dispute between his home county of Meru and Isiolo. (The dispute has been going on for years.)

“Kaimenyi has taken on the Lands mantle that was once held by the former King of Meru, Jackson Angaine, who did not conclusively settle the boundary issue, yet there are 25 more border disputes in the country. Given his poor alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, I do not even for a moment envy his new position,” says Lumumba.

Then there is the sensitive issue of titling that will also test Kaimenyi’s mettle at the helm of the ministry. The Jubilee Government has of late been on a nationwide campaign to issue titles to people who have never seen such a document since independence.

Title deeds

While commissioning the National Titling Centre in Ruaraka early this year, President Kenyatta stated his administration’s resolve to issue three million title deeds to Kenyans, a tall order given than only 5.6 million title deeds has been issued in the last 50 years.

However, Lumumba says issuing of title deeds without addressing historical land injustices will be similar to putting a coat of paint over wide cracks. “We saw the fallout over the Waitiki land saga. The rights of all must be respected despite the issuance of such documents,” he says.

Given the complex issues that bedevil the land sector, it seems Kaimenyi has little time to settle in his new portfolio. Only time will tell whether his experience in dealing with stormy matters in his former docket will be enough to navigate the thorny path that is Kenya’s land office.