How to avoid purchase of black listed land

Kisumu county lands office. There is no compensation to property owners who acquired their investments illegally or irregularly. [PHOTO:COLLINS ODUOR/STANDARD]

What should I do to ensure I don’t buy land that has been blacklisted because the title was fraudulently acquired? Can the reports by commissions of inquiry set up by previous regimes help in resolving the confusion and uncertainties? Paul, Mombasa.

There have been three main commissions of inquiry on land matters: The Parliamentary Committee on the Coastal land Problems (1966) and Njonjo Land Commission on Land Law System of Kenya and the Commission of Inquiry into Illegal and Irregular Allocations of Public Land, popularly known as the Ndungu Land Report.

The Ndungu report made several recommendations, including naming of beneficiaries of illegal and irregularly acquired property but has since been swept under the carpet.

Property lawyers have in the past cautioned clients against dealing in the blacklisted property even if official searches confirmed them as registered owners.

The legal reality is that there would be no compensation to property owners who acquired their investments illegally or irregularly.

Therefore, recent calls from a section of society for the NLC to implement reports by commissions of inquiry on land would open a can of worms.

The argument is that the reports bear the key to the first step towards resolving the emotive historical injustices on land.

According to lawyer Paul Ndungu who chaired the Ndungu Commission, only a few recommendations made by three commissions on land are yet to be implemented.

Individuals adversely named for illegal and irregular allocation of land are yet to be brought to book.

Land should be held, used and managed in a manner that is equitable, efficient, productive and sustainable.

The Land Act 2012 consolidated substantive colonial land laws and the Land Registration Act consolidated all transactions on land.

The National Land Commission Act was to operationalise the National Land Commission in line with the Constitution.

Currently, issues that require reform include land allocation, compulsory acquisition, land hoarding, absentee landlordism and sub-division into uneconomic units.

Others are delays in service delivery, access to land, numerous legislation on land and historical injustices.

If implemented, the reports on commissions of inquiry would partly resolve the deep-rooted issues on squatters and community land.

According to Sections 159 and 160 of the Land Act, the Cabinet Secretary or the NLC have powers to prescribe rules governing both “hoarding of large tracts of land” and the minimum units of subdivision.

Section 14 of the statute also gives the NLC powers to review grants issued previously.

— The writer is an advocate of the High Court.