Lands Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi should do more to end land problems

The disbandment of land control boards across the country by Lands Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi was long overdue.

Undeniably, there is no other issue in Kenya that elicits so much anger, fear and fiery confrontation as the ownership of land. In fact, historical land injustices in this country have remained a deep-seated problem.

Since independence, several land commissions that have been formed to address illegal and irregular allocation of land have failed to have an impact.

Many land control boards had been infiltrated by unscrupulous, treacherous and rapacious people whose main interest is sordid gain. Little wonder that corruption and malpractice are the order of the day in many boards. Many Kenyans have endured untold anguish in the hands of land cartels.

Prof Kaimenyi should be cognisant of the fact that there are also land buying companies whose boards have outlived their usefulness, and there is need to dissolve them. Kenyans have lost their hard-earned money in the name of buying non-existent land. Others indulge in unethical acquisition of wealth by charging exorbitant transfer fees. Moreover computerisation of Lands ministry is the way out of the current quagmire.