Good move by the Cabinet but fate of proposed law now lies with Parliament

By Gakuu Mathenge

The Chairman of Kenya Private Sector Alliance’s land sector board, Ibrahim Mwathane, says the Cabinet’s approval of the national land policy is a milestone.

"This is a major step towards realisation of Vision 2030 and implementation of Agenda Four. Parliament must now move with speed to expeditiously approve the relevant sessional papers to move the process forward," Mwathane said.

Although the document had taken long in coming, he said, experience in Africa and around the world has shown this is normal with land policy formulation since it is sensitive and contentious.

Institution of Surveyors of Kenya Chairman Mwenda Makathimo hailed the Cabinet "for showing courage and determination to deliver justice on historical injustices, reduce poverty and boost food security, improve economic gains and political stability by approving the land policy".

"The Cabinet has made a loud statement on how the country should proceed in addressing economic inequalities and encouraging investments by clearing perennial cobwebs in land management and administrative processes," Makathimo said.

But Kenya Land Alliance Executive Director Odende Lumumba said the Government must show political will by lobbying Parliament to support the policy.

"This should not go the way of past policies, which were formulated but never implemented. We will be watching," he said.

Founding President Kenyatta and his successor avoided a comprehensive overhaul of colonial legacy on land, preferring piece-meal appeasement of restive communities through selective settlement schemes.

The Kenyatta family owns vast swathes of land in the Rift Valley, central Kenya, Taita Taveta and North and South Coast.

Tight stranglehold

Moi, who hailed from the Rift Valley, the hot spot of land-based conflicts, preferred gradual approach to reforms.

Kenyatta and Moi were also under pressure from London to go slow on land matters, over commercial interests of both British multinationals and descendants of the settler community. The political and economic elite have maintained tight stranglehold on land matters and resisted reforms aimed at loosening their grip.

Through patronage, commissioners of land have often created barons who dominate public and political life.

Due to their proximity, top civil servants, parastatal and security chiefs, political elite and their families are the most propertied class.

The Ndung’u report on illegally and irregularly acquired land reads like a roll call of who-is-who. Implementing this report has proven difficult. The battle to turn the policy into concrete and tangible benefits for Kenyans now moves to Parliament, which may pass or reject the policy.

A lobby for large-scale commercial land owners, Kenya Land Owners Association (Kela), has waged a two-year long spirited campaign against the new land policy and is expected to take its lobbying to Parliament.

Kela spokesperson Chris Foot calls the proposed document ‘anti-investment’ and would scare investors away. "It accords undue attention to historical injustices, which will be difficult to define. Some have been addressed and rectified. The policy puts 1885 as the arbitrary date for reviewing historical injustices. This implies we could include former Ugandan territory that was hived off into Kenya in 1902, or Kenya territory that became part of Somalia in 1925," Foot says.