Loss and pain of evictions

The ongoing evictions in Mau Forest, Narok, should get us thinking. Evictions are bad. They destroy real property, cause long term emotional pain and, at times, loss of lives! They therefore should be avoided where possible. Under international conventions, forced evictions are considered a gross violation of human rights. Granted, given that the environmental consequences of encroaching on the Mau water tower are so dire, the current evictions must happen. But there’s need to take heed of eviction provisions in the Land Act and minimize suffering!

As I write, the government has given notice to Kibera residents occupying the six hundred metre long and sixty metre wide link road reserve between Lang’ata and Ngong Roads to vacate. This is a public reserve. Unless ongoing interventions between the residents, human rights groups, the Land Commission and KURA bear fruits, the residents may be forcefully evicted. That would pump several homeless children and adults into the already hyper saturated Kibera ecosystem, with the attendant social-economic consequences.

In earlier days, the land sector was quite orderly and one to behold. Serving officers had honour and integrity. And they were highly trusted. Processes were clear and appointments given were usually honoured. External enquiries and correspondence were promptly answered. The records were revered and safely kept. But this nostalgic past is gone. Today’s sector runs on two lanes, a formal and informal one. It runs around two kinds of officers, the honest and the grossly dishonest. But as a country we must think about how best to restore this very critical sector.

You may have heard that there exists a small group of people whose business is to identify properties belonging to the dead. Where heirs to such properties aren’t in the know or have little financial muscle or influence, the team takes the property details and transfers them to those willing to buy. There are also those who specialize in identifying properties with leases about to expire or those that have expired. Again, they move in to ensure that such properties are re-allocated to those willing to pay up for them. And I am sure many read about a recent court case where allegedly a Nairobi proprietor left his property to his servants only to later learn that the ownership details were changed to another and the property sold out while he was away. His servants were forcefully evicted.

Diverse skill sets needed

Asked what extra skills they require to perform their tasks better, land policy makers, implementers and practitioners around Africa returned interesting results. The long list included communication, conflict resolution, change management and implications of climate change to land management. Others listed land policy, land information management, women land rights and also strategic management. Customary land rights, sustainable urban and peri-urban management also appeared to be of great concern. The prompting study, commissioned by the African Land Policy Centre(ALPC), previously the Continental Land Policy Initiative(LPI), covered all the five regions of Africa South to North, East to West and Central Africa.

It should be curious that the respondents never mentioned the need for extra skills in numerics, surveying, valuation, law and science. Here was a case where the consumer industry was implying that the graduates from Universities and other training institutions weren’t fully impacting today’s needs despite their rigorous training. Jolted by the results, the African Land Policy Centre, which is charged with coordinating the implementation of the 2009 African Union Declaration on Land Issues, sought to seek suitable solutions.

We perhaps have read newspapers or case law about the numerous court cases and land transactions that collapse since property sellers and buyers ignored these low level organs called land control boards. They regulate all transactions on agricultural land, be it in the urban or rural areas. They are manned by men and women we hardly ever pay heed to. Big mistake! Every one of us keen on investing on land categorized as agricultural or the developments thereon must begin to take interest in them.

Land control boards, whose members are appointed by the Lands Cabinet Secretary, are established under the Land Control Act of 1967 for controlling transactions on agricultural land. Only the President of the Republic of Kenya has the power and discretion to exempt a transaction on agricultural land from obtaining consent from land control boards. From practical experience, few cases ever enjoy this privilege. It’s usually accorded to transactions of great public or state interest.

Scope of Land Control Boards

Challenges with land registries

Blockchain technology has been bundled around as a possible panacea to Kenya’s land registry problem. Land registries in Kenya are infamous for all manner of things. Lost, defaced, destroyed, duplicated or even altered records are some of the ills regularly cited. Service seekers in land registries also complain of long delays, preferential treatment and rent seeking. Besides attitude, fraud and self-serving irregularities, most of these complaints are closely tied to poor storage, access and updating of land records. So can the new buzz technology, blockchain, redeem us or is it mere hype?

The use of blockchain technology has been gaining traction around the world. Debate and pilots on the use of this technology has intensified lately. During the 19^th ‘Annual World Bank Conference on “Land and Poverty” held in Washington earlier this year, discussions on blockchain took up two whole sessions with a record eight presentations made on the second day. It was part of discussions during the pre-conference workshop too. This doesn’t easily happen in this premier global forum unless a subject is considered important. That blockchain has earned its place in the forum in such a big way perhaps bespeaks its potential to influence land administration around the world in future. Papers presented on blockchain focused on the concept itself, the technology, ongoing country-level pilots and the possibilities of applying the technology to land administration.