Kisumu hosts 9th Africities Conference

The Lakeside City of Kisumu was in carnival mood last week as it played host to the 9^th Africities conference. The event provides a great opportunity for peer learning on the management of cities and local authorities in Africa. This should be the go-to event for lessons in the development and management of cities and municipalities. It brings together key actors at policy and technical level. Great opportunity to identify and seek solutions to contemporary urban governance challenges facing the continent.

These conferences have been happening for a while now. But are African states, cities and municipalities using them to learn and do things differently? Do we see gradual improvements in our urban governance? I hope that some participants in Kisumu picked useful lessons to inform the United Nations Agenda 2030 and the African Union Agenda 2063. I am certain that Kisumu City, and host country Kenya, drew some obvious social-economic benefits from the event, and seized the local and international limelight to position for future business. However, whether the country delegations to these conferences apply the lessons learnt on return remains moot.

Youth and farming

A while back, I side chatted one of the South African large-scale farmers on the sidelines of an international event in London. He shared a simple story. His children had all shunned farming and left it to him. Until he introduced technology. He harnessed technology on his machinery to sow, cultivate, operate the irrigation gear and harvest. He used drones to apply pesticides over the vast farm, saving time and rigour. All centrally coordinated from his farm offices. One of his sons took interest and sought to be involved. Some others followed. They later took over.

It was therefore curious to notice that the use of ineffective farming technology is cited as one of the reasons for low agricultural productivity in the study on land fragmentation by the national land commission discussed on this column recently. The study reveals that the majority of respondents used hand-held tools such as jembes, pangas and sickle, among others, to till land. This is tough and unattractive. Like in the above case, our youth will shun it. The study identifies land consolidation as one of the strategies that could be considered to augment land sizes to make them amenable to mechanization. The use of existing regulatory organs such as land control boards to protect productive farm holdings from fragmentation into unviable sizes is another.

The second team of commissioners to the land commission are just over two years in office now. They were sworn in by former Chief Justice David Maraga in November 2019. But not many can name its chair, vice-chair and commissioners. But by its first year, many in the land sector would have named most members of the first commission, whose tenure expired in February 2019. It had assumed office in February 2013. Why? Because the engagement styles of the two teams of commissioners are notably different.

New commissioners focused on results

The first commission engaged abrasively, and publicly. Graphic details of its internal squabbles, and those with the Lands Ministry and the rest of the government, went public. I remember once quipping that the media must have retained an office next door. The style strained relations with some key partners, undermined production and tainted the commission’s image. As it handed over office, the first land commission was publicly shamed, with some of its commissioners and officers having been charged in court for diverse reasons. Being the inaugural commission, this was not good history, much as the sister Lands Ministry may have been guilty for not dutifully nurturing its first constitutional baby.

The land register

Jurisdictions keen on managing land efficiently maintain a land register. This is a record of people who own land, and their respective land parcels. The details include the type of interest held, and the term of years, if leasehold. Liabilities such as a mortgages or charges to any institution, any other beneficial interests, or even burdens carried by a title, are noted on the register. For optimal use and best effects, the information on a register should be current.

In most countries, land registers are held and maintained in land registries held at the national and/or local level. The information held in land registers is of great use to land professionals such as surveyors, planners, valuers, conveyancing lawyers and real estate practitioners. It supports utility companies responsible for water, oil, power, road, rail, internet and aviation infrastructure. It’s also of interest to courts, banks and tax management agencies. Citizens resort to the register when transacting on land or property. All these users can only get to know the lawful owner, the interests enjoyed and the liabilities against any land parcel by looking at or getting a copy of the information on the register. In Kenya, this procedure is referred to as obtaining an official search, or getting a land title search. It is done in the registry within which a land parcel is registered.

High demand for public land

With our increasing population and expanding public needs, public land remains in great demand. Therefore, the push to recover land that had been arrogated to individuals and other juridical entities must be intensified. This is a tough and long-term undertaking. And the pace changes with circumstances, competence and the determination of the state drivers involved. When all chips are up and there’s synergy between them, a lot can be achieved. The public agencies that suffered land grabs, the national land commission, the investigation and prosecution organs along with the courts must however beware that Kenyans continue to look up top them for results. And given its constitutional mandate, the land commission should provide proactive leadership in recovery and protective interventions.

Grabbing of ADC ranches averted