I visited Burkina in 2008 in support of the formulation phase of the "Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa."

I am back, this time in support of an initiative to help develop an implementation strategy for this continental land policy process. My host is the Economic Community of West Africa States.

This is an initiative of the African Union Commission in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Uneca) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to develop a land policy framework to strengthen land rights, enhance productivity and secure livelihoods in Africa. It commenced in March 2006 in Addis Ababa.

Africa: United for Meaningful Land Reform

By Ibrahim Mwathane, 10 January 2011

I was in Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso about three years ago. Not much has changed.

I know quite a number of my countrymen and others in East Africa do not even know where this is. They have said as much

Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa found between the Mali to the north and west, Niger to the east and Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Benin to the south.

Two things always strike me on entry: The high visa fees and the scorching heat. On visa fee, one gets little change from $200.

Even back home, this is big money. Immigration Minister Otieno Kajwang, how much do they pay when entering Kenya?

Reminds me of a remark by Malawi President Bingu Wa Mutharika last year while officially opening a conference of African ministers of agriculture in Lilongwe.

Mutharika wondered why one cannot drive around the African continent without barriers like they do in America and Europe.

The charges limit movement and inter-state trade, don't they? Not many African citizens can afford $200 just to visit. Food for thought for immigration authorities around Africa.

I visited Burkina in 2008 in support of the formulation phase of the "Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa."

I am back, this time in support of an initiative to help develop an implementation strategy for this continental land policy process. My host is the Economic Community of West Africa States.

AU Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa

This is an initiative of the African Union Commission in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Uneca) and the African Development Bank (AfDB) to develop a land policy framework to strengthen land rights, enhance productivity and secure livelihoods in Africa. It commenced in March 2006 in Addis Ababa.

Consultative workshops were held in Windhoek, Namibia in August 2007 for Southern Africa; Kigali, Rwanda in January 2008 for East Africa, and Ouagadougou, in April 2008 for West Africa Central Africa's workshop was held in Yaoundé, Cameroon in August 2008 while North Africa's was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in December 2008.

The land policy framework and guidelines were then approved by African Union ministers for agriculture, land and livestock in April 2009 in Addis Ababa.

This formed the basis of a "Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa" which was presented and endorsed by the Summit of African Heads of States and Government in Sirte, Libya in July 2009.

The late Prof Okoth Ogendo chaired the African taskforce to the initiative. He was indefatigable while at it.

He is unarguably credited for helping the process navigate through the many stormy sessions held before endorsement by the Summit.

He passed away soon after he witnessed the approval by the Conference of Ministers in April 2009 in Addis Ababa.

Prof. Ogendo left a legacy for both Kenya and Africa in this regard.

No wonder, while officially launching the implementation phase of the initiative in Lilongwe, Malawi on the sidelines of the African Union Conference of Ministers of Agriculture in October last year, the African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture Tumusiime Rhoda Peace, requested the gathering to observe a moment of silence in honour of the departed don. He deserved every bit of the honour.

So Africa today has a declaration on land with commitment from the highest policy organ, the Summit of Heads of States and Government.

Progress of implementation is supposed to be reported regularly.

This provides an excellent basis upon which African Union member countries and land sector actors can further the formulation and implementation of appropriate land policies.

In the AU declaration, the heads of states undertook to prioritise, initiate and lead land policy development and implementation in their countries.

They also committed to support the development of appropriate institutional frameworks and allocate adequate budgetary resources for policy development, implementation and monitoring.

The summit also requested the African Union Commission to collaborate with regional economic communities, UNECA, AfDB and other partners to establish an institutional framework to co-ordinate follow-up activities, take measures to establish a support fund and a mechanism for tracking and periodic reporting of progress by member states.

The declaration invites regional economic communities to convene periodic regional platforms to facilitate experience sharing, lesson learning and dissemination of best practices and to also capture and address pertinent land policy issues within their respective common agricultural policy frameworks.

Convergence of land policies should also be addressed by RECs.

Individual member states are called upon to review their land sectors and build adequate human, financial and technical capacities to support land policy development and implementation.

Countries are also urged to note the steps outlined in the Framework and Guidelines during the development and implementation of their land policies.

The declaration on land therefore calls for action by the African Union Commission, regional economic communities and member states, the key to policy formulation and implementation.

The Framework and Guidelines appreciate the importance of land and natural resources to development in all African countries.

The need for good land governance arrangements, good management and equitable access to the resources is therefore highlighted.

The guidelines also acknowledge the peculiar circumstances relating to each country due to different historical, social, economic, and political contexts.

East African States have done well

Nearer home, the five member states of the East African Community Africa have done well.

Apart from Uganda which is in its last stage of land policy development, each of the other four countries of the EAC have land policies.

They therefore should begin to address their commitments under the declaration on land, particularly ensuring convergence of their policies and the provision of regional platforms to facilitate exchange of lessons and best practices.

One cannot think of a greater threat to our region outside the management of land and natural resources.

Incidents like the recent Migingo dispute between Kenya and Uganda, the frequent pasture driven cross-border skirmishes reported in many parts of the region and the endangered Mau and Mara ecosystems are good examples.

And all these have major economic and political implications. One cannot also forget that only recently, tempers flared during regional discussions on protocols to rights to property.

The EAC must therefore harness the provisions of the African Union Declaration to prioritise discussions on the management of land and natural resources within the region.

And so must Igad which embraces a wider number of states with even greater concerns on cross-border management of these resources.

Land emotive in Kenya

In Kenya, land remains emotive and central to people's livelihoods.

Little wonder that the formulation of Kenya's land policy took a whopping six years. The discussions were emotive.

At some moment, it looked like Kenya would never agree on a land policy, thanks to its long legacy of state-driven skewed land distribution and management which bequeathed wealth and power to the landed, alienating the small landowners and the landless. This greatly fuelled Kenya's wealth disparities.

So one can appreciate that due to debates on land, many people want these disparities mitigated though conservative and immensely powerful forces want to maintain the status quo.

Efforts to reform Kenya's land sector bore fruit when Parliament approved Sessional Paper No. 3 on the National Land Policy on December 3, 2009.

This was given constitutional anchor when Kenyans voted to have a new Constitution with a comprehensive chapter on land, literally an extract from the National Land Policy.

This Constitution was promulgated on August 27, 2010. Again, the chapter on land raised great and furious debate prior to the vote.

Clearly, had the new Constitution failed, the chapter on land would never have been, denying a much needed Constitutional cushion to the national land policy, an eventuality that would have greatly undermined implementation.

Opponents of the Constitution, many of whom had opposed the land policy, were clearly conscious of this fact. But now Kenya has both a national land policy and a new Constitution with a comprehensive and reformist land chapter.

Therefore, policy and Constitutional anchor no longer stand in the way and land reforms in Kenya can be effectively executed.

But how is Kenya faring following the delivery of the two? Not that well.

There are seed efforts to computerise the labyrinth of manual land records that straddles Kenya's land offices.

The process has begun with the safeguarding of records in some pilot stations. A few digital databases are under development. This is a good thing.

There are also efforts, though ad hoc, towards the recovery of irregularly/illegally allocated public land.

This is good too but ought to be approached as provided for in the policy and Constitution.

However, the Ministry of Lands must appreciate the strict timelines tied to the implementation of the land chapter in the Constitution, which must relate with the implementation of the land policy.

For this to be successfully done, the ministry must provide leadership to stakeholders to quickly develop a clear implementation framework identifying the reform activities to be delivered, their timelines, budgets and the roles of respective stakeholders.

This implies that the ministry must begin to prepare for internal restructuring ahead of the establishment of a National Land Commission which will be largely tasked with driving reforms.

This is apparently, but understandably, quite unpopular within the ministry since it threatens traditional power turfs.

Besides the traditional opponents to reforms, this is an emerging threat to reforms.

Managing this new threat and quickly putting together a comprehensive implementation framework for both the constitution and the national land policy remains Kenya's key challenge to launching comprehensive implementation of land reforms.

The Kenya government must remain conscious that the AU declaration requires it to midwife this implementation phase successfully as well.

This article was published by the East African on 10 Jan 2011