When owning land means life and death

Globally, land has been at the heart of centuries-old conflicts. In Africa, it is not only in Zimbabwe where this factor of production is of crucial importance. In Kenya, many lives have been lost as a result of this treasured asset.

In Bungoma County, for instance, the dreaded Sabaot Land Defence Forces came in as a result of a land-related conflict, which led to the deaths of many people, particularly in Chepyuk,

Mt Elgon. In Kenya, land disputes emanate from the fact that the instrumentally Common Law has failed to socially engineer an irreversible movement from communal tenure to individual tenure. What this means is that land-linked problems will persist unless a proper plan on settlement and ownership of land is designed.

It is on the back of this argument that since I took over the leadership of the Bungoma County Government, I have been on the steering wheel to ensure land problems in this region are exhaustively tackled.

I embarked on this journey on the premise that land challenges have continuously been used by selfish politicians as a conduit to woo voters, most of whom are from poor economic backgrounds. Indeed, since independence, politicians have used land to mine votes from the vulnerable public. Sadly, to politicians, this will no longer be the case going forward.

To keep at bay the politicians' illicit trick, my administration began by increasing human resources capacity at the lands department, having realised that we had (very) few surveyors and registrars to carry out different assignments. My targeted achievement was a physical planner and surveyor in every sub-county.

Owing to financial constraints, I have since managed to have five physical planners and surveyors on board. Progressively, the desired contingent will be achieved by next financial year.

For effective and efficient operations, logistical needs arising from the respective offices have been addressed. This includes the purchasing of equipment and vehicles. It is my hope that before the end of the year, the county government would have purchased all necessary surveying equipment.

Perhaps the biggest milestone in these endeavours that I am proud of is the handing over of about 500 title deeds to the people of Malakisi in Sirisia today. Since 1963, these people, about 6,000 of them, have been suffering due to the lack of security on the 253-acre piece of land that they occupied.

Tagged with the derogatory title "squatters", these people have not only been perceived as lesser beings in the society, but they have also been ridiculed, and exploited during electioneering years.

Even with the land, they could not access any form of credit from financial institutions for they did not have any legal document rubberstamping their ownership.

This translated to increased poverty and unemployment in the area. Yet, from today this will no longer be the case. The people of Malakisi, ranging from Bukusus, Wangas, Sabaots, Kikuyus, Tesos, among others, will be ululating due to this noble initiative.

They will now start a new and better phase in their lives, with those with ambitions in business approaching commercial banks for loans backed by the land titles.

In the course of next month, the County Government teaming up with the national government will also be issuing 964 titles to the people of Tongaren. This will certainly corroborate my government's strategic ambition of ensuring every piece of land has a title deed.

The universal issuance of title deeds in the county is informed by our appreciation of the fact that many people do not have this legal document due to ignorance and succession challenges. That is why in the past few months, we have been carrying out land clinics, which are expected to end by December 2017.