Why we must up efforts to regulate land use changes

Land control boards
The Land Development and Governance Institute (LDGI), in partnership with the Lands Ministry, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the European Union, has been lately involved in interventions to enhance the capacity of Land Control Boards in Kenya. These Boards are charged with the responsibility of regulating transactions on agricultural land such as sales, transfers, leases, charges, subdivisions or other dealings with agricultural land within a land control area. Change of user is one such dealing. During discussions, it was clear that the most frequent transactions presented agenda were sales, subdivisions and transfers. Change of user, which is change in the use of land from agricultural to others such as residential, educational or commercial, appeared most infrequent.
Agricultural land: unregulated land use changes
In today’s rapidly urbanizing Kenya, this is a paradox. While such applications would have been scarce in the immediate post-colonial Kenya, they ought to be prevalent today. This is because there’s overwhelming anecdotal evidence that many of our counties have been urbanizing. And fast! Counties surrounding the City County of Nairobi such as Kiambu, Kajiado and Machakos, along with many others in Central, Western, Nyanza and the Middle Rift Valley parts of Kenya, are rapidly urbanizing. Large zones of agricultural land in these counties have been converted to residential and commercial use. Indeed, in Kiambu and a number of Rift Valley counties, such conversions have significantly reduced agricultural production. But if there were fidelity to land administration procedures and the Land Control Act under which Land Control Boards operate, such conversions should have received endorsement by these local organs. But most haven’t.
Little wonder that Kenya has literally lost control over urbanization, throwing urban planning into a spin, with regrettable consequences. Most urban spaces suffer lack of infrastructural and social services, congestion and the emergence of informal human settlements, all of which undermine the quality of life for residents. This trend is unsustainable and should worry local and national political leaders, and urban managers too. But how do we stem it? Three critical elements beg. It is likely that land owners and users are unaware about the need to seek approval for change in land use. There’s hence need for public sensitization.
Land use plans and enforcement capacity
There’s also the possibility that many of the affected rural swathes do not enjoy any formal land use plans to guide applications for change of use. As long as this lacuna exists, even those willing to observe compliance will be at sea. This is a policy issue that must be resolved through county-national government liaison. Where there are such plans, there’s the challenge with enforcement. Much as Kenya prides itself of high literacy levels and higher level training, there’s evidence that most county governments have weak land administration units, with few physical planners, land administration experts and surveyors to guide serious initiatives to oversee and police land use planning.
Yet, looking around, and counting the numbers of such professionals leaving the University in search of employment annually, one cannot understand why the gap. Is it that county governments haven’t prioritised, or that they have a challenge with funds to recruit them? Whatever the reason, the consequences of uncontrolled land use changes in Kenya will be expensive. We must therefore respond befittingly.
Dated 29th June, 2025