Who owns Kenya?: 2pc control over half of arable land

A new report shows that 0.1 per cent of wealthy Kenyans each own an average of 200 hectares. [File, Standard]

A handful of Kenyans hold more than half of arable land, which is largely idle with allegations that a substantial proportion of this land has been acquired irregularly.

This has condemned the vast majority of Kenyans to poverty and food insecurity.

A new report shows that 0.1 per cent of wealthy Kenyans own 39 per cent of total arable land, with each individual owning an average of 200 hectares (about 500 acres).

Another 1.9 per cent control 15 per cent of farmed land, each owning 20 hectares or 49.42 acres on average.

The two groups, which include political and corporate elites as well as multinational companies, own 54 per cent of arable land.

This means 98 per cent of Kenyans have been squeezed on 46 per cent of the arable land, ending up with small parcels that are also subjected to subdivisions. On average, these Kenyans own about 1.2 hectares or 2.97 acres.

The report titled “Who Owns Kenya – Land, Power and the Politics of Tax Justice” also shows that despite owning huge tracts, the wealthy are largely holding the land for speculation. This is land that could have been used for productive purposes, including guaranteeing food security and national wealth generation.

In the report, the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) said the wealthy landowners appear not to pay their fair share of taxes, benefiting from tax exemptions, undervaluation of land and evasion by exercising their influence over land administration.

“The majority of farm holdings are held by only 0.1 per cent of the population, (occupying) 39 per cent of the total farmed land,” reads the report, further highlighting that combined with the 1.9 per cent that owns 15 per cent of farmed land means that “fewer than two per cent of Kenyans own more than half of the country’s arable land, much of it held idle or acquired irregularly.”

“This concentration restricts livelihood opportunities, reduces agricultural productivity, perpetuates food insecurity, and prevents millions from utilizing land titles to access credit. High land prices, driven by speculation rather than productive use, have locked out young people and women from ownership and the generational wealth it creates,” said KHRC.

The report comes a few weeks after a study by Oxfam Kenya revealed that the richest 125 Kenyans hold more wealth than 43 million people, projecting the degree of inequality. Oxfam noted that the richest one per cent own 78 per cent of the total financial wealth.

Despite holding huge tracts of land, the KHRC report shows that the Treasury continues to rely on a small group of taxpayers for revenue. This is particularly the urban middle-class and smallholder farmers, who have to contend with aggressive taxation through consumption and income taxes such as VAT and pay-as-you-earn.

This has led to the feeling that Kenyans are overtaxed while the government has been criticised for failure to expand the tax bracket. 

KHRC noted that revising land rates and penalising owners for failure to use large tracts of land productively could help grow tax revenues, including enabling counties to improve their own source revenue, even to a point of reducing reliance on the exchequer.

This would also suppress frequent hikes in taxes for essential commodities as well as loading more levies on salaried Kenyans or heavily taxing companies, many collapsing under the weight of taxes.

“The poor, therefore, pay disproportionately more of their income in taxes than the rich. This represents a regressive tax system, where untaxed land wealth protects privilege, while the poor subsidise public spending from which they benefit less,” reads the report.