Why CORD should support President on land titles

By KIRATU KAMUNYA

The coast region has for some time now been a source of uninspiring news including but not limited to the MRC session demands which turn violent at times and terrorism activities with the attendant crackdown interrupting normalcy in the process.

This is in spite of the fact that the region is otherwise renowned for its scenic beauty accentuated by the breathtaking coastline together with the legendary warmth and hospitality of the coastal people.

This gloomy situation has recently given way to celebrations and radiant hope stemming from the ongoing exercise of issuing titles to the coastal residents presided over by no less than the President and his deputy.

What is even more encouraging is the fact that the process has commenced just five months after the Jubilee government came into power and also in a region hitherto considered unfriendly to the current government.

The land question in the coast region has always been the elephant in the room. Historical land injustices have given rise to hundreds of thousands of landless people confined to the miserable life of a squatter. Much of the problem has been blamed on absentee landlords who hold large swathes of land that is unutilised, benefiting neither the land barons nor the residents.

Land is an important factor of production. Without land, especially in a country where the economy is yet to be sufficiently diversified and agriculture remains the epicenter of production, life can be unbearable. This has largely been the life of a squatter at the coast region for over 50-years.

Agitation by groups like the MRC was originally thought to have been inspired by the landlessness and misery of these squatters.

Priceless possessions

In fact, many leaders have always been ready to listen and address the grievances of groups like the MRC and have only been cautioning against use of violence in pursuit of an otherwise noble goal.

It is therefore unconscionable how the same MRC would be opposed to land distribution which has always been its mantra. Is it that they will now run out of fuel and ideas after the problem which has been the lifeline in their clamor has been addressed?

Maybe MRC has been about much more than land grievances.

With land and its title, land can be a source of funding to finance projects of business and domestic nature and sustain livelihoods.

This in turn can boost the quality of life. People can go about their lives with the peace of mind which comes with the assurance that there is a place they can call home.

The celebrations which have met the current process largely underscore the above point. Thousands have already acquired titles from the first phase of this massive exercise. With proper guidance and counsel, residents can sustain their livelihoods in a decent way.

Without it, many will still wallow in misery and poverty if they choose the route of disposing their priceless possessions for a song to hungry brokers and speculators. They will however have themselves to blame as the government will have honored its election pledge.

In the run up to the last general elections, the emotive land question was a huge national debate that almost spilled out of control, polarising the country in the process. On one hand, CORD coalition accused the current President of inability to solve the land question given that his family owns huge tracts of land.

The president and his team at the time rebuffed attempts to politicise the land question. Indeed, in one of the presidential debates, the President when put to task over his commitment to solve the land question reiterated that the new constitution has laid out a framework of solving the historical land injustices by creating and empowering the National Land Commission to do so.

He pledged to offer the necessary support to the commission once elected into power in order to achieve this goal. He has not disappointed. Under his watch, the National Land Commission together with the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Settlement has been able to fast track titles for the selected settlement schemes in the first phase while plans are underway to settle millions of landless Kenyans along the way.

However, not everybody is joining the coastal residents in their celebration galore. Jubilee government’s move has rubbed the CORD politicians the wrong way.

This is easy to understand!

The coast region was a stronghold of the coalition in the last polls and the warm reception to the President and his government this time round must worry the competitors but this should not be a license to play politics with people’s source of livelihood!

The writer is a lawyer with Maina Ngaruiya Advocates.