According to Gazette Notice No 13557 of 19^th September 2012, the Minister for Lands, Hon James Orengo has appointed a Task Force to formulate a Community Land Bill and an Evictions and Resettlement Bill. The timeline given for the task is two months with effect from the date of the Notice

The Chairperson is:-

1. Dr Elizabeth Nzioki

The members are:-

1. Prof Patricia Kameri-Mbote

2. Dr Collins Odote

3. Dr Korir Singoei

4. Odindo Opiata

5. Ibrahim Mwathane

6. Dr Winnie Mwangi

7. Peter Musyimi

8. Prof Simiyu Wandiba

9. Faith Waigwa

10. Soipan Tuya

11. Harry Fredrick Mugo

12. Jane Mumbi Weru

13. Erastus Lokaale

14. Amina A. Hashi

15. Richard L. Lelemusi

16. Mercy Njamwea

17. Irene Mutai

18. Cesare Mbaria

19. V. K. Liyai

Joint Secretaries are:-

1. Priscilla Nyaga

2. Bernard Leitich

3. Vane Akama

In addition to the above membership, the task force is free to co-opt professional or any other appropriate competence within or outside government.

Its Terms of Reference will be to prepare two draft bills:-

(a) Community Land Bill; and

(b) Evictions and Resettlement Bill.

In discharging its mandate, the Task Force will:-

· Use a consultative process

· Work closely with the Ministry of Lands, other Ministries and other stakeholders

· Hold consultative meetings to discuss and understand community lands on recognition of rights, administration and management of community land and evictions and resettlement

· Review and research best practices from within and from other countries that have statutorily recognized community land rights and evictions and resettlement to inform development of the Bills

· Review existing zero draft Community Land Bill

· Review existing zero draft Evictions and Resettlement Bill

· Formulate a draft Evictions and Resettlement Bill based on the provisions of the Constitution, the National Land Policy and recommendations and findings of the consultative process

· Hold regional fora with public and stakeholders to discuss draft bills and use feedback from these processes to firm up draft bills.

The Task Force is expected to develop a detailed work plan indicating milestones and timelines and will draw funds for its work from the vote of the Ministry of Lands.

1, Community Bill of great importance

Community land in Kenya is dominant, accounting for over 50% per cent of Kenya’s stock of land. It is also home to most of Kenya’s pastoral communities and carries a lot of Kenya’s land based natural resources. This bill is therefore of fundamental importance. Financial institutions and investors will need to have clarity on how land rights to such collectively owned land will be transacted or accessed for investments in future. The discovery of deposits of key resources like minerals within many parts of Kenya, mineral oil in Turkana County in Northern Kenya and the recent gas finds along Kenya’s coast add impetus to the need for this law. This process of preparing this law will therefore unlock and attract various competing interests locally and externally. This will need careful navigation.

Line Ministries, stakeholders, private sector investors and communities must therefore follow and participate in this process closely to ensure that the law not only protects the individual and collective land rights of communities but that it is also good enough to facilitate transactions such as:-

· Registration of land

· Conversion from community land to either public or private land

· Transfers of land

· Leasing for short and long term investments (by local and foreign investors)

2, Evictions and Resettlement Bill

This Bill is expected to define procedures to guide evictions of persons from private, community or public land. This can get contentious given that throughout Kenya's history, private land owners, local and central governments have easily obtained court orders to evict persons settled on their land.] They have then proceeded to do so in a brutal and high handed manner, occasioning loss of property and even death at times. Livelihoods are shattered as peoples businesses and education for school going children is interrupted.

The anticipated bill wishes to introduce measures to be complied with before the eviction of such persons in future and may restrict the ease, or place some conditions with which land owners and authorities will have to comply with before evictions. This is likely to elicit opposition since it may be viewed to diminish registered land rights. But the country has to decide whether it is ready to continue with the brutal evictions witnessed in many urban areas and forest settlements in the past.

Therefore, public and stakeholder participation in the formulation of this bill is equally necessary.