Majority of Kenyans unable to pursue land cases in court due to high costs, says report

Majority of Kenyans cannot afford to file a land case in local courts due to high costs, and the time taken to conclude a single case.

A new report released yesterday confirmed that Kenyans are suffering in terms of low service delivery owing to the fact that they have to travel over long distances to access the courts.

The Assessment of the Performance of the Environment and Land Court (ELC) -16th Scorecard Report was released by the Land Development and Governance Institute (LDGI) yesterday in a Nairobi hotel.

Seeking services

The institute’s Executive Director Mwenda Makathimo said currently, for example, citizens in Kajiado are being referred to the Machakos Environment and Land Court.

“In the report, 30.1 per cent ranked land cases as unaffordable with 21.4 per cent ranking the costs as completely unaffordable. And 46.5 per cent of the citizens seeking services at ELC felt the cost of seeking justice was just affordable and 1.4 per cent ranked this as very affordable,” said Mr Makathimo.

It costs a citizen Sh10,000 to file a case in an Environment and Land Court while the applicant has to pay not less than Sh5,000 every time the case is mentioned in court over and above transport and documents costs.

Makathimo observed that based on the low incomes among Kenyans, especially those living in the rural areas, financing a land dispute case in the local courts becomes a challenging affair.

Most Kenyans interviewed, he said, felt that the unaffordable costs at ELC are contributing to the escalating crisis in the land sector, mainly curtailing development projects and increasing the cost of doing business.

Makathimo said huge developments are lagging behind schedule due to high rate of land disputes. “Majority of Kenyans have land lying idle and cannot develop them mainly because their neighbours, or some groups have sought legal redress either claiming ownership or disputing new structure,” he added.The same, he said has affected mega projects Government and private sector is undertaking thus leading to delay in service delivery.

However, in the established ELCs level of corruption respondents said is low, for instance, 42.8 per cent ranked corruption levels as low with 24.2 per cent ranking it as very low whereas 14.1 per cent could not rank.

Makathimo, however, confirmed that 16.9 per cent ranked corruption incidence as high and 2 per cent felt it was very high. While other Kenyans feel that it takes long to conclude cases and give a verdict and majority. The government created the Environment and Land Courts in 16 counties after the enactment the Environment and Land Court Act, 2011. Some 20 more judges were appointed to hear and conclude cases. Five of the appointed judges operate in Nairobi.