Charity Ngilu, Mariamu El Maawy and Mohammed Swazuri to drive Kenya's land reforms

With the naming of Architect Ms Mariamu El Maawy to the Lands, Housing and Urban Development Ministry, Kenyans now can associate with the three faces expected to drive land reforms in the country for the next half decade.

Of the three, perhaps Mohammed Swazuri, a land economist and Chair to the national land commission, has some previous track record with land reforms in Kenya. Swazuri also hails from Kwale in the Coast region and has hence lived with the harsh reality of discrimination in land allocation and historical injustices in Kenya. He now has the privileged opportunity to originate plans and programmes to address some of these concerns, among other national land reform priorities.

New leaders have no previous track record with land reforms

The top leaders however send mixed signals to Kenya's land reforms. Hon Charity Ngilu has for instance not really associated with land reforms in the past. Her little public engagement in the sector perhaps was when she teamed up with Hon Wavinya Ndeti to protest the Syokimau and the anticipated Athi River demolitions. These are issues that are yet to be concluded. It will be interesting to watch how she will handle these once brought up to her policy desk. Ngilu too now has the rare opportunity to influence the protection and/or compensation of land rights of the people of Mui Coal Basin in her native Kitui County. Coal exploration and exploitation poses a threat to individual and communal land rights in Kitui County. If recognition, protection and compensation of the affected land rights in the Mui Basin are well done, this would greatly raise Ngilu's local profile. While in this Ministry, Ngilu too could stamp her authority in the Ukambani diaspora by influencing the adjudication and registration of the vast tracts of unregistered community land that strand the counties of Kitui, Machakos and Makueni. Ngilu is expected to engage mainly at policy level and leave the hands-on coordination and technical delivery to her Principal Secretary and the national land commission.

Ms Mariamu El Maawy may not be an accident in the Lands Ministry. She unsuccessfully sought membership of the national land commission. This is perhaps an early and good indicator of her interest on matters of land reforms in Kenya. Being an Architect, she may however find her executive time spent more on the the familiar Housing docket, also under her charge, than the rather technical processes that drive land administration and land reforms. She too has no known previous track record with land reforms. El Maawy though now has an opportunity to work with the land commission to ensure that land banking, an issue underscored in land reforms, is done welll to ensure sufficient reservation of suitable land to support housing development in our Counties and in particular in our urban areas.

National land commission suffers a funding deficit

The national land commission, which comprises a team with the desired competencies in land economics, surveying, planning, sociology, environmental science and law, unfortunately faces the challenge of a big budget deficit(allocation stands at 241 million Kenya shillings.....hardly enough for a year's salary for just the commissioners and seed staff) in the 2013/14 annual allocation. This could slow down its start and undermine land reform programmes.

New team should be innovative and re-align budgets, seek partner funding and rely on land experts

That the Cabinet and Principal Secretaries in Lands have no known track record with land reforms could pose a subtle challenge to implementation. The lack of sufficient funding for the land commission fuels anxiety.

But the new team could also decide to converge their efforts and turnaround these experience and funding gaps. First they could ensure that all functions meant to transit to the land commission from the former Ministry of Lands do so with their respective budget lines, following which the authority to incur the relevant expenditure should shift to the commission. This would bridge the huge funding gap. The Cabinet Secretary and her Principal Secretary could also provide goodwill and networks for the land commission to outsource needed budgetary support from the traditional development partners that have always supported Kenya's land reforms, including Sida, Usaid, the World Bank and Un-Habitat among others. The European Union would also be a helpful partner in this regard.

In addition, the top two in Lands could diminish their experience gaps by having the technocrats in the Ministry who have demonstrated commitment and competence to drive land reforms work in collaboration with the team of experienced local land experts who have for long supported land reforms, set the pace and tone for land reforms in the country. This would help the country maintain historical memory on the matter and also also tap from experts who have commitment and clarity on the origin and intended destination of land reforms. The Minister and her Principal Secretary would easily play the role of providing policy goodwill and leadership along mobilizing the required resources.

National Assembly Lands Committee membership sends mixed signals too

The new membership of the national assembly lands committee could be a source of concern too. Profiling it, One gets the impression that some of its members could easily represent constituencies strongly opposed to land reforms. Yet, with the recent reforms in Parliament where the executive is does not sit in, this committee is now the gateway to policy, budgetary and legislative approvals to all proposals to be tabled to drive land reforms in future. Stakeholders will therefore need to wake up to this practical reality and profile the membership then keep a watch to ensure that the committee does not turn into a subtle obstacle for land reforms going forward.

Jubilee Government will loose much needed public goodwill if land reforms slow down

Short of these approaches, there is likely to be a slowing down in the implementation of the land reform provisions in our national land policy, the constitution and our laws. This could cause a crisis of confidence in stakeholders and the public and deny the Jubilee government the necessary public goodwill in this key sector. The backlash would certainly take toll in the next general elections and the bye-elections that lie ahead.