Land policy provided for the land use policy

As we sat populating cyberspace with social media messages during the launch, I could tell that the national land use policy was getting confused for the national land policy. The national land policy is contained in sessional paper No 3 of 2009 while the sessional paper No 1 of 2017 carries the national land use policy. The two are as different as our constitution and its enabling laws!

The national land policy provided for the formulation of a national land use policy, which sets the framework for land use management in Kenya. Its scope is limited to land use while the land policy embraces the much wider spectrum of land and related sub-themes. The absence of a land use policy has resulted in haphazard urban and rural development by competing land use needs.

Major land uses

The launched land use policy incorporates measures and principles to guide all activities that impact on the use of land and land based resources. It identifies and profiles all major land uses within the country. Agriculture, one of the key uses, contributes about thirty per cent of Kenya’s GDP while also providing livelihoods to over eighty per cent of the population. However, cultural practices and a rapidly increasing population have placed great pressure on agricultural land, leading to its wanton subdivision in many places in the central, rift valley and western regions of Kenya. In other areas, urbanization and growth of towns and cities has seen the conversion of prime agricultural land into residential and commercial use. Nairobi, Nakuru and Eldoret provide good examples, where commercial and residential facilities now stand on large belts of land previously under food and cash crop farming.

Pastoralism and livestock development is another major land use, particularly practiced in the arid and semi-arid zones. Degradation as a result of overgrazing, and fragmentation of this land, pose challenges highlighted in the sessional paper. Parts of Kajiado and Narok are good cases. Industrial development, mining and energy production are the other key uses. Land for the production of renewable energy such geothermal, solar, wind and biomass is noted to be mainly under private or communal ownership, therefore posing difficulties, including conflicts, during acquisition initiatives. Tourism, transport, infrastructure development and human settlements also place demands on land use. Poor planning, a big shortfall in the supply of decent housing in urban areas and poor service infrastructure are key challenges in human settlements. The land use policy aims at rationalizing these and other land uses around the country.

Influencing factors

The policy identifies some of the factors that influence land use in the country. These include our culture, our history, institutional structures, policy and laws. Land tenure systems, our land market and the taxation regime greatly influence land use too. The land use policy further sets out guidelines, principles and strategies to govern land use. It for instance provides that land allocation and issuance of titles should only be done on the basis of approved physical development plans, approved survey plans and approved area zoning regulations. And to ensure that all users of land contribute for the annual use of their land, the policy provides that the national cadaster should be linked to the national land tax and rent database. It also provides that land reserved for public utilities such as roads, railways, airports, seaports, housing, offices and land banks for investments shouldn’t be allocated or re-designated for private development.

Implementation

The paper highlights all the sectoral policies and laws which will need to be revised for alignment with the land use policy and also calls for the mapping and documentation of the key land uses and natural resources. Planning policy guidelines, standards, strategies and manuals will also need to be prepared. The policy recognizes that implementation will hang around the willingness and ability of government and stakeholders. It therefore establishes a high level national land use policy council, to be chaired by the head of public service, to coordinate implementation. Its members will be cabinet secretaries from the key land use line ministries and state agencies. It also establishes a national technical implementation committee and a county technical implementation committee, each constituted by key state and non-state stakeholders.

The attainment of this policy is good. But we are slowly becoming renowned for good policies and laws without commensurate implementation. This should stop. State goodwill will be needed to ensure availability of funds and technical capacity to support implementation. Indeed, a good reading of the policy reveals that its implementation will complement the realization of the food security, manufacturing, health and housing pillars, all of which require sufficient and well planned land. Farida Karoney, the new Lands Cabinet Secretary, will need to take up this challenge. Land sector stakeholders also have a duty of watch on the implementation!