Land reforms under threat as NLC denied cash

New budgetary allocations to the National Land Commission, the body mandated with championing land reforms, reveal the lands outfit will receive piecemeal funding, which is less than ten per cent of its budget, for the next three years or more, writes HAROLD AYODO

Land reform champions are questioning the government’s commitment to streamline the sector after it emerged that the National Land Commission (NLC) is facing severe financial starvation that might last at least three years. NLC is the constitutional body mandated with managing all public land and championing land reforms.

A fresh roadblock to the much-anticipated reforms in line with the Constitution is the low budgetary allocation to the NLC according to a document seen by Home & Away.

According to the latest Medium Term Expenditure Framework Document for the Agriculture, Rural and Urban Development Sector, NLC has been allocated about five per cent of its budgetary request for 2014/2015.

The commission had requested a total of Sh14.8 billion but instead has been allocated Sh779.6 million by the Treasury.

According to the document submitted recently at the Sector hearing at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), the Treasury further allocated Sh499 million for recurrent expenditure and Sh280 million for development.

There seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel as the piecemeal budgetary allocations for the commission are slated for 2015/2016 and 2016/2017.

According to the document, NLC requested for Sh15.3 billion for 2015/2016 but was allocated Sh582 million, with Sh414 million going towards recurrent expenditure.

allocation

For 2016/2017, NLC presented a budget of Sh16.4 billion, but Treasury gave it a paltry Sh608 million with recurrent expenditure taking the lion’s share of Sh436 million.

According to the 2013/2014 printed estimates, NLC received a Sh206 million for recurrent expenditure.

The Agriculture, Rural and Urban Development Sectoral Budgetary Requests and Allocations Paper was read by Fisheries Principal Secretary Ntiba Micheni.

For 2014/2015, the National Land Commission had requested for Sh6.1 billion for development and Sh8.6 billion for recurrent expenditure but has been allocated Sh140 million and Sh353 million, respectively.

The commission requested for Sh6.2 billion for development and Sh9 billion for recurrent expenditure for 2015/2016 but has been allocated a paltry Sh168 million and Sh414 million, respectively.

For 2016/2017 the commission asked for Sh6.6 billion for development and Sh9.7 billion for recurrent expenditure but is allocated Sh172 million and Sh436 million, respectively.

toothless body

Land reform champions see this as a move aimed at ensuring NLC remains a toothless bulldog.

Economic and Social Rights Centre (ESRC) Director Odindo Opiata, says the trend of giving piecemeal financial allocations to the NLC is retrogressive.

“It is extremely troubling and if it continues, then the country will wait for ages before true fruits of land reforms are realised,” Opiata says.

Opiata says the three year projected budgetary allocations also brings into sharp focus the commitment of the government on land reforms.

“Questionable transactions on community land are still being conducted, especially in areas where natural resources like oil have been found,” he adds.

According to Opiata, the government must show real commitment to land reforms by providing adequate funding to the NLC to discharge its constitutional mandate.

“Sweeping land reforms were among the great expectations of majority of Kenyans who voted in favour of the new Constitution in 2010,” Opiata says.

The Constitution provides a framework of land reforms towards improving a myriad of challenges that have dogged the sector since independence.

The Constitution law established the NLC whose functions include managing public land on behalf of the national and county governments.

duties of NLC

Others are to recommend a national land policy to the national government and advise on a comprehensive programme for registration of title deeds countrywide.

It would also initiate investigations either on its own initiative, or on a complaint into present or historical land injustices and recommend appropriate redress.

The shoe string budget for the NLC first elicited public debate after then Finance Minister Njeru Githae read the 2012/13 Budget.

Barely two weeks after the budget was read in Parliament, a report that exposed glaring gaps that would hamper the much-awaited land reforms was also released.

The report titled, Budgeting for Land Reforms: Ensuring People’s Participation, blew the first whistle that allocations to the NLC were piecemeal.

The study by Hakijamii and the International Budget Partnership (IBP) included reviews of audit reports by the Auditor General and the Ministry of Lands.

According to the report, the much-awaited land reforms through the NLC would remain a mirage because of budgetary strains.

Land Development and Governance Institute chairman Ibrahim Mwathane, says lack of sufficient budgetary support is the surest way to defeat land reforms.

“Making NLC operational and establishing the 47 county land boards will be impossible without sufficient funds,” says Mwathane.

report

According to the 39-page Hakijamii report, a paltry Sh125 million had been allocated to the NLC.

According to the report, the lands sector has historically fallen short on budgeting, spending and accounting for resources.

“The Ministry of Lands has never fully spent its budget since 2007/08…it has spent only 88 per cent,” the report says.

IBP senior technical liaison and research fellow Jason Lakin, who was involved in the study, says some budget information from the Lands ministry are unavailable to the public.

“Readily available information were estimates of expenditure books, which are written in technical language,” says Dr Lakin.

He says that between 2011/12 and 2012/13, budgetary allocations to land reforms increased from Sh244 million to Sh309 million.

The report further accused Ardhi House for being cited repeatedly by the Auditor General over the last several years, for failing to present accurate financial statements for auditing.

unsupported expenditure

“There are also rampant unsupported expenditures at the level of district offices resulting in millions of shillings spending that cannot be verified,” says the report.

For instance, reports by the Auditor General show that on September 10, 2008, the Kirinyaga District Lands Office spent Sh3.6 million that could not be accounted for.

The office was issued with an Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) No 462792 for Sh4.5 million to pay pending bills to Land Disputes and Boards in the district.

Out of the amount, Sh3.6 million was paid to Lands Tribunal members as sitting, transport and lunch allowances between 2004 and 2008.