I am in this small, friendly and beautiful city of Windhoek. Windhoek, the capital city for Namibia, has historical significance. It was home to the many political conferences held to usher the independence of Namibia in 1990.

I was last here in 2017. Namibia is vast and, in size, far larger than Kenya. However, ironically, its population is much smaller. In 2017, it was about 2.4 million. Currently, projections place it at 2.6. Kenya’s current population is approximately 53.7 million, up from approximately 50.2 in 2017. Therefore, within the five years, while Kenya’s population has grown by approximately 3.5 million, Namibia’s has grown by about 200 thousand. Useful comparative statistics for our demographic and economic planners. Our sharp population growth remains a challenge to our economic growth. Importantly, Kenya should keep sight of the collaboration opportunities offered by this comparatively younger democracy.

Market Protocol

EAC Partner States have begun to share lessons and best practices in land policy development. Each will henceforth be able to share considered best practices in land policy formulation, implementation and review. This regional sharing will be done within the realm of Article 15 of the EACMarket Protocol which provides that access to, and use of land and premises, shall be governed by national policies and laws of individual Partner States. States will therefore be at liberty to learn from each other, and, where they identify lessons applicable to their jurisdictions, make bilateral arrangements to benchmark, learn and borrow accordingly.

African Union Declaration on land

A significant milestone to the history of land governance in Africa was made in the coastal city of Sirte, Libya, in July 2009. Sirte, at the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, is the birthplace of the late Muammar Gaddafi. It’s here that Heads of States and Government of the African Union held their 13^th Ordinary Session during which they made a Declaration that changed the course of land governance in Africa.

The Declaration, dubbed the Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa, made some terse call to the African Union Commission and its partners, the Economic Commission for Africa, and the African Development Bank, on matters relating to the improvement and coordination of land policy development in Africa. The call extended to Regional Economic Communities and AU Member States too. This Declaration was based on a framework and guidelines earlier developed to guide land policy development in Africa.

Kenya played host to a key continental meeting organised by the African Land Policy Centre (ALPC) just before Covid-19 struck. Unlike most other ALPC meetings, this wasn’t about thematic land policy issues. This meeting was about knowledge and knowledge sharing through University training. It was about urging training institutions to shed status quo and review their curricula in land governance at an early moment. This matter, whose basics I discussed in an earlier contribution, is easier said than done. Think about it, why should a University don strain to revisit contents of curricula modules which have always seemingly served well? Yet this doesn’t serve self-interests!

But there’s a compelling case. Africa’s needs are now different; they shifted from the colonial ones. Africa needs to feed itself. It needs to reduce and resolve land conflicts. It needs to embrace equity in the sharing and access to land resources. Women and men have rights to land, cultural practices notwithstanding. Climate change and environmental degradation must inform our land use practices. The congestion, pollution and conflicting land uses in our urban areas call for more innovative planning solutions. Out in rural Africa, communities can no longer watch investors harness their land without a stake in the benefits. Then we need to effectively harness today’s technology to reduce time and costs of doing business. It’s a wide menu of new and emerging issues. And now with Covid-19, land-related concerns will emerge. Land experts will be expected to put these into a land rights perspective too.

Therefore, graduates keen on Africa’s land governance industry must beware that the market shifted. It calls for skill sets quite different from the traditional. No one wants just measurers to distances and values of land. No one needs graduates to oversee mere land allocation. No one needs planners rich on methodology that served previous epochs when urban populations were low and competition for land insignificant. Today’s industry needs folks with degrees responsive to a wide range of practical issues. Today’s Universities must therefore aspire to offer pragmatic skill sets, besides fundamentals in numerics, measurement science and land economy.

Inaugural Conference