Progress under agenda item 4

Looking at the key requirements under Agenda Item 4 of the 2008 National Accord on land reforms, one gets the impression that Kenya has done quite well. We anchored land tenure and use in our new constitution, finalised our national land policy and have enacted some basic land legislation. Some initial steps towards establishing a Geographic Information System (GIS) based Land Information Management System have been done while the Land Reform Transformation Unit that earlier drove land reforms under the Lands Ministry gave way to the new National Land Commission. The development of a land use master plan remains work-in-progress while some level of local level land administration systems are in place, though still weak. We now have Environment and Land Courts, the new justice organs to determine disputes arising from the ownership and use of land, along with the environment, established in 16 Counties. I’ve always encouraged fellow stakeholders not to take these gains for granted. There are African countries that have remained without land policies hitherto, others are stuck with incomplete land policy formulation processes and many others retain their pre-independence constitutional provisions on matters land tenure. Many will take years to revise their laws and establish courts exclusively dedicated to matters land and environment as we have done.

Kenyans want practical results

The above gains notwithstanding, on matters land, the proof of the pudding remains in the eating. It’s the mundane things such as ability to access land for desirable use, obtain title deeds or lease documents, conduct quick searches and get approvals for extension of lease, subdivision, amalgamation, change of user and development within reasonable periods that matter most. It’s the ability to file boundary disputes or land cases with land registrars or the new courts and get verdicts and judgements quickly and at affordable rates, that matter to Wanjiku, Hassan, Kamene and Okumu. It’s the confidence that fraudsters won’t duplicate or alter title deeds and that outsiders, irrespective of social status, won’t invade community and private land that matter to most Kenyans and investors, local or foreign. It’s the efficiency and predictability of land transaction processes tabled in any land office in the country, and the planning of our towns, that’ll make Kenyans appreciate that the constitution, the land policy and the new laws are working for them. They’ve said as much whenever informed about the litany of sectoral gains made within the last decade.

But other things like the recovery of vital public land lost out to public institutions over the years matter too. And practical efforts to resolve the real or perceived historical land injustices, which have been said to be a source of some community grievances, and, at times, driven inter-ethnic conflicts, remain of national interest. Some of these concerns, mundane as they may seem, have usually had, and will continue to have, great political implications, particularly during the run-down to general elections.

So the bigwigs in the sector must keep these mundane things in mind. They must try and fit any progress they deem to have made in the land sector to the above mundane issues.

Unfortunate wrangles

But the wrangles witnessed between the Lands Ministry and the Land Commission for the last two years have left many Kenyans quite pessimistic about the ability of these key institutions to effectively address the above issues. Unfortunately, in today’s Kenya, our well established print and broadcast media industry will always disseminate such differences to Kenyans in our rural and urban areas. Furthermore, increased local use of social media further scales up such differences to the diaspora and the global community! Little wonder that as we enter 2015, many remember the differences between the two much more than any gains they may have made in 2013 and 2014. It may be prudent of them to devise strategies of restricting their differences to boardrooms in future in order to give room for Kenyans to begin to listen out for any gains.

Challenges for 2015

To do so, they must demonstrate fidelity to the working agreement they recently signed with much publicity. Even before they get the same endorsed by the Supreme Court and legally protected through pertinent legal amendments, they must embrace the spirit of working together. But then Kenyans will expect to get practical results. The Land Commission must beware the reported cases of continued public land grabs. It must be seen to be an effective deterrent agency to such violations. The many public institutions that continue to decry their lost land await real remedy; the recovery processes must be fair and based of clear rules of procedure to attract public confidence. Transactions on public land leases must begin to get prompt attention.

The Ministry must be seen to systematically deliver on the overhyped computerisation programme. The on-going efforts to reorganise the land registries, which needs public support, must be seen to move beyond reorganizing land records to the development of a comprehensive land information management system which will improve the general efficiency of service delivery in land offices and reduce institutional corruption. The Ministry and the Commission will also need to be seen to deliver on the promise to issue 3 million title deeds within the next three years. This promise is quite measurable and noble and can be the source of many political barbs if undelivered. And invasion of private land must cease and there’s need for accelerated establishment of Land Courts in Counties without.

Complete land laws

Given recent interests in the extractive industry, the legal framework on community land remains a priority. Priority too must be given to the legal framework on the resolution of historical land injustices, given its importance to addressing this subtle and politically volatile issue. Pending laws required under chapter 6 of the constitution must be enacted in 2015 too!

The Ministry and the Commission will need to harness stakeholder goodwill to effectively deliver on most of these.