We urgently need special land courts

For God’s sake, why would a case before a court that functions throughout the year take more than 30 years to settle? What economic value would a man gain from land after a land matter that arose when he was 40 years old is resolved when he is already 70?

It isn’t just about the old story of few and lethargic Judiciary staff, historical complexities, fake documents, or even death of persons contesting ownership.

It is more about the value of land at the centre of a contest to whoever gets the right to it three decades on.

The existence of old land cases betrays lack of appreciation of the social impact of such matters on affected persons.

It is a lack of judicial recognition and regard of the central place land occupies in the lives and fortunes of Kenyans.

At the moment, our country is engulfed in an ominous struggle for rightful ownership of land to an extent that many Kenyans could be dying several years earlier than their time due to the agony they have been subjected to over land ownership.

Kenya urgently needs an active special court to deal with land matters. In 2016, the Judiciary should stop holding on to old land cases.

The Environment and Land Court within our Judiciary is a pale shadow of what such a court should be, let alone what it should deliver. This court is a harbinger of doom and premature deaths.

Bogged down by a barrage of criminal and civil cases, land matters seem to have been accorded a cold shoulder, hence the hundreds of court orders and counter-orders issued on almost all long-standing land cases.

An ideal special land court should have a clear structure that is time-conscious, besides having the kind of leadership whose vision is to resolve and restore land-related disputes in the shortest time possible.

Such a structure should either have a robust investigative arm or perhaps enjoy a healthy network and goodwill from existing investigation agencies.

Only a land court informed by such sensibilities can save the parties involved life-threatening agony and their lives.

The current set-up of the land court cannot manage the magnitude of the cases especially due to the historical complexities and confusing judicial pronouncements regarding them.

The registrar of societies is further “guilty” of always beingin the cross-fire when land companies are battling with leadership woes.

Intervention by officers at the registrar’s office has also borne unnecessary cases due to vested interests that border on recognition of splinter groups that are financially able to wriggle themselves out of the mess.

Meanwhile, greedy State officers and white-collar land grabbers have manufactured technical and flimsy reasons.

A well-facilitated special court could cut the case backlogs by more than half.

The pain, the sorrow and the disillusionment one faces along the corridors of justice or land registries in the counties is a testimony that Kenyans are dying younger under the heavy toll taken on their lives by land cases.

Land investments have been lost, making succession in families a painful ordeal.

Inheritance arrangements have been disrupted, quickly giving rise to strife among children or grandchildren of land investors. A court that deals purely on land grabbing, dispossession by unscrupulous land buying companies directors would be a reprieve to Kenyans.

Investments done in the 1970s and 1980s are yet to aid in poverty reduction among families simply because the lords of impunity have complicated acquisition of land.

Unchaining peasants from land grabbing would be a momentous legacy for the Government. Fast-tracking solutions to land disputes that keep oscillating within the Judiciary would herald a key milestone for productive Kenyans.

The recent ruling by the Supreme Court that the buck of issuance of titles lies with the Ministry of Lands is a clear indication that the State is integral in a reformist land ownership strategy.

As the National Land Commission caves in under the pressure of unraveling the mystery of ownership of community and big public land parcels, poor Kenyans are buying their tickets to early graves - simply because someone has acquired a counter-order.

Still, the courts remain the only saviour to legitimate trustees of members’ lands.

It only depends on how they present their cases backed up by genuine government documents.

For as long as fake documents exist and the status quo remains, only a few will benefit at the expense of the majority.