By Gakuu Mathenge

Experts warn of a heightened wave of scramble for land at the Coast by economic interests, fuelled by anticipated development of a second port at Lamu.

Coast has lately been in the news over the leasing of 40,000 hectares of land to the Qatari Government for 25 years to grow food for its nationals, in exchange of funding the construction of the Lamu Port. The lease was signed last year.

"Coast people should be alert, they will soon be swamped by land merchants and other economic interests eyeing a piece of the action in the ongoing government investments in the region, especially the development of a new Port in Lamu," says Ibrahim Mwathane.

The Government is under pressure, even as we discuss national land policy that aims to resolve the land question."

Mwathane is former Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK) chairman, and current Governor of the Land Chapter at the Kenya Private Sector Alliance.

Beach plots and agricultural land adjacent to the Indian Ocean are among the most sought after real estate pieces by political and economic elite.

These latest acquisitions will only add to the woes of the locals. Coast Province as a whole is the largest squatter settlement, where local communities do not own their ancestral land.

Coastal communities squat on former trust and government land which have been allocated to politically correct individuals and land belonging to absentee landlords.

Trust lands are former colonial African native reserves, where land remained under the communal ownership of Africans, after the rest was adjudicated and registered in the names of colonial settlers.

At Independence, the native reserves became the trust lands, vested in the local authorities to hold in trust for local communities.

However, over time, trust lands have been abused, and made the largest source of largesse for fortune seekers, reward for political loyalty, and conservation interests.

The central government, in connivance with local authorities converts trust land into private land through a process called ‘setting apart’, which simply means transferring what was originally communal property to private hands.

The Ndung’u Commission of Inquiry into Irregular and Illegal Land Allocations says massive abuse of trust lands by past governments should be investigated. The report suggests revocation of trust land in private hands or bought at market value where reversal is impossible.

"Trust lands are neither owned by Government or county councils. Ideally, they should be referred to as communal lands… they are vested in the communities in which they are situated…councils only hold them in trust; it belongs to the local tribes, groups, families, and individuals according to the applicable African customary law," the report says. It recommends revocation and repossession of all cases of illegally allocated trust lands.

To curb abuse in future, the Draft Land Policy adopted by the Cabinet in July, and due for discussion in Parliament, proposes transfer of all powers allowing the President and Commissioner of Lands to allocate public land, including trust land, to a proposed National Land Commission.

The proposed National Land Commission will have branches in all districts to vet land allocations, and should be manned by people of integrity appointed by the President on recommendation of Parliament.

The draft also proposes Community Land Boards at the grassroots, to oversee land management and allocations at the community level, as opposed to the current situation where local authorities are the final say, and which often fail to protect community interests.

Community and District Land Boards would have been involved, and would have to vet, approve or reject deals like the Qatari land deal.

One of the most famous cases, the report says, of a community’s effort to repossess land it was dispossessed by a local authority and the Kenya Wildlife Service, is the Endorois Community of Baringo. The community has successfully lodged a suit against the Koibatek and Baringo county councils, at the Africa Union’s Council for Human and People’s Rights, over the creation of the Lake Baringo Game Reserve in the early 1970s.

The Government, which was represented by Deputy Solicitor- General, Muthoni Likimani, lost its defense in July. The council ruled in favour of the Endorois.

If the ruling is upheld and implemented, it could open a floodgate of suits against many local authorities, Government and its agencies, including the KWS and the military among others, who have acquired community land.

Kenya is a member and signatory to the AU and its Charters and organs.