Tone down rhetoric and handle land-related matters with sobriety

Demands for land ownership and, to a lesser extent, land use have fuelled wars across generations around the world.

 The Middle East crisis, pitting the Israelis against the Palestinians, is only the most visible. Closer to home, the sporadic communal violence witnessed in many parts of the country has usually been rooted in the fight for land.

This explains the high hopes Kenyans have that the government will, at long last, come up with solutions that will lay land controversies to rest. Unfortunately, the goings on at the Lands Ministry and the National Land Commission (NLC) are sending disturbing signals that these hopes may be dashed.

The war of words between the Lands and Housing Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu and the NLC Chairman Mohammed Swazuri should come to an end. Instead the two, whose roles should complement one another, should take a closer look at their dockets and find out the areas that require clarification to ensure that they render Kenyans the services they are paid to deliver.

For one, the NLC should finalise the rules and regulations as provided for in the Land Act 2012, Land Registry Act 2012 and the NLC Act 2012 to streamline the land registration process.

Obviously, the Lands and Housing Minister has to be involved in this exercise.

Kenyans need to know, beyond any reasonable doubt, the person or persons who are authorised by the law to issue title deeds and the correct procedure that should be followed in the issuance of these vital documents. This clarity will avoid unnecessary controversy like the recent one that surrounded President Uhuru Kenyatta’s issuance of title deeds in the Coast region.

Institution of Surveyors of Kenya Chairman Collins Kowuor raised a number of pertinent issues earlier this week that the NLC and the Lands and Housing Ministry needs to consider because they represent the views of many Kenyans with an interest in land and its development.

One of those issues was the need to have wide consultations to ensure all interested parties are brought on board before land is registered, surveyed and title deeds issued - failure to do so undermines the sanctity of the document.

Yet another issue this duo responsible for land matters should investigate and act upon is the large number of title deeds that are reportedly lying uncollected at the various land registries across the country.

Given the amount of mischief employees in these offices are often reported to be involved in, it would be a big surprise if some of these title deeds have not already been duplicated and sold off to unsuspecting land-hungry buyers.

But, perhaps, the one issue that requires urgent attention is communal and public land. While it is important — indeed necessary — to launch investigations into community lands across the country to smoke out individuals who may have registered some, or all, of such lands in their own names, the importance of demarcating them immediately cannot be overemphasized.

This would give individuals accused of grabbing community lands an opportunity to give their side of the story before a decision is taken on the way forward.

There is a need also for the authorities to get their act together to ensure recovery of all the public lands that were grabbed with gay abandon across the country.

Grabbing of land belonging to state corporations such as the Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service, Kenya Agricultural Research Institution and Kenya Seed Company is already costing the country more than it should bear. The status quo should not be allowed to hold much longer.