By Francis Ayieko

As the Uhuru administration gets down to business, many observers will be watching just how the new government treats efforts to restore sanity in the land, building and construction industry.

For years, these two key sectors of the economy have been in a total mess. In the land sector, for instance, illegal allocation of public land has seen the country lose big chunks of land to powerful individuals.

On the other hand, the building and construction sector, has known nothing but chaos in a ‘free-for-all’ affair that saw quacks enter the construction business. The result has been collapsing buildings, leading to loss of lives and revenue.

But this will no longer be the case if the reforms currently being championed in the two sectors are carried out effectively. The land sector is riding high after the inauguration of the National Land Commission (NLC) in February.

The nine-member commission is expected to manage public land on behalf of national and county governments. It will also be charged with alienation of public land, a role that has, since Kenya’s independence, been the preserve of the president through the Commissioner of Lands. It will also assess and levy land-related taxes.

But more importantly, the commission is expected to deal with the insidious issue of land historical injustices that has dogged the country since independence.

The building and construction industry, on the other hand, also has a fresh start with the coming into force of the National Construction Authority (NCA) last year. The authority’s overall mandate is to regulate the building and construction sector.

Sanity

The most pressing issue for the authority to address, however, is to bring sanity in the industry by ensuring that only registered contractors are allowed to operate.

In January, the authority conducted countrywide conferences aimed at sensitising contractors who have up to the end of June to register afresh with the regulator.

Under the National Construction Authority Act, NCA is the sole custodian of contractors’ register. Previously, there never existed a single register of contractors since they were being registered by line ministries.

According to NCA Managing Director Daniel Manduku, the fresh registration will help the authority create a database that will help them work on their other mandates like training.

“This will help us design programmes, which will help us create capacity among contractors. We also want to re-evaluate and define categories based on competence, capacity and experience. Registration will, therefore, help us know how to deal with contractors whose abilities are questionable,” said Manduku.

Both the National Land Commission and the National Construction Authority have been given timelines, under their respective acts, to accomplish their mandates. Whereas the NCA has already formulated support regulations, NLC is just beginning the process.

The NLC chairman Muhammad Swazuri says that it might take them up to two years to start dealing with hard issues like historical land injustices “because we must do it according to the law”.

Dispute resolution

In the meantime, however, Dr Swazuri says they will resort to alternative dispute resolution methods like arbitration to deal with the complaints they have been getting since they took office.

The two bodies seem to enjoy public and government goodwill at the moment. But public expectations are high, especially when it comes to the NLC.

“Managing the notion that with the coming into force of the NLC, all land problems in Kenya are gone, is the hardest thing for me,” Swazuri told this writer in an interview recently.

He says there is enough political goodwill for him and his commissioners.

During the campaigns, one of the refrains was that an Uhuru administration, might not offer goodwill on land reforms since the Kenyatta family is one of the largest landowners.

Swazuri thinks otherwise: “Anything that is proposed outside the Constitution, the National Land Policy and  the National Land Commission Act will be considered null and void.”

He added: “We have been telling our commissioners that temptations are likely to be there, intimidations are  likely to be the order of the day and pressure is likely to come from all angles, but our guiding principle must always be Haki na usawa (justice and equality).”