Restore order in lands docket to unlock Kenya's potential

The Supreme Court has resolved a long-running contestation between the Lands Ministry and the National Lands Commission (NLC) on which institution is mandated by law to issue title deeds. The commission had gone to court seeking interpretation of the Constitution on an issue dear to most Kenyans, seeing the huge importance many of them put on land. Land ownership in Kenya is not only an economic factor but also an emotional, social and political tinderbox. It has been made a life and death affair over the years.

Indeed, many lives and livelihoods have been destroyed on account of land conflicts across the country. Families, communities, organisations and individuals have severed ties over land ownership, with devastating consequences. The courts are clogged by hundreds of thousands of disputes as different entities fight for prime land.

We, therefore, laud the new promise of harmony between the Lands Cabinet Secretary, Jacob Kaimenyi, and NCL chairman Mohammed Swazuri. The two pledged to end the protracted wrangles and consistently seek to work harmoniously. After this pledge, the hard work should begin. The altercations between the ministry and commission have not only derailed land reforms, but also held back growth across the country.

When land disputes take years to resolve, millions of shillings in anticipated revenues is lost and can never be recovered. Individuals and organisations have been unable to develop their land because of ownership disputes. This is unacceptable in a country where agriculture is the backbone of the economy.

As the ministry and commission find their footing, there are urgent issues they must resolve. Ardhi House must move fast to assure Kenyans of the sanctity of the title deeds in their possession. We have had numerous cases of innocent Kenyans losing property on account of fake titles that were ostensibly ‘duly signed and sealed’ only to be deprived of their property after the purchase and development of these parcels.

The lands registry must be put in order and the ongoing digitisation process completed. Land transactions must also be streamlined where land dealers are duly registered and their operations closely monitored. The ministry and the NLC should be proactive in efforts to detect and deter fraud. There should be unambiguous regulations to govern land buying companies, seeing that many disputes revolve around these entities.

The resettlement of squatters is another thorny issue the ministry and the NLC must address. It is unfortunate that thousands of Kenyans continue to live in squalour after being dispossessed of their farms either through political disputes or land grabs. We have had Internally Displaced Persons since the 1992 clashes through to the post-election violence of 2007/8. The ministry and commission should champion the settlement of the genuine IDPs in collaboration with relevant agencies. The process of resettling squatters in Mombasa County, for instance, after resolving the decades-old conflict on Waitiki farm must be fast-tracked and done fairly.

Ultimately we must delink emotions in our dealings in land matters and view it as a factor of production like capital and labour. When relatives turn against one another on account of a land dispute, this becomes retrogressive. This is especially so because this mind-set is informed by the belief that it is largely land that can promote wealth creation among peasants in rural Kenya and elsewhere.

We must begin to disabuse ourselves of the notion that everyone must own a piece of land, as this puts too much pressure on the available land. Let us expand our property base and seek new investment opportunities. Otherwise the intrinsic value of land will continue to be exaggerated. These issues will be addressed when the land tenure system is reviewed to conform to the 2010 Constitution.

We expect sober deliberations from the NLC and the lands ministry when these discussions are codified into law.