Ministry to name land grabbers

The ministry of lands will soon publish names of people who grabbed land on road reserves, public utilities and government land while issuing a notice of repossession, Lands minister James Orengo has said.

He said the government is in the process of preparing a public notice to all people whose parcels of land are on road reserves, recreational land, public utilities and those invading Government land without authority.

In a statement to the public during the ongoing Public Service Week, the minister said the ministry has been encouraging those with land in public utilities to voluntarily surrender it.

“A number have already been surrendered at Karura, Eldoret, among other urban areas, and Kenya International Conference Centre,” Mr Orengo said.

He said grabbing of land will be a thing of the past because the ministry has undertaken a programme of documenting and titling of public land especially of land owned by institutions.

Mr Orengo said the government is addressing the historical Coastal land issues of tenants and squatters by taking an inventory of land that is either idle, heavily squatted on or where members of the public are tenants-at-will.

He said the ministry is formulating a land use policy to guide its preparation, planning and zoning of the country into various ecological zones.

Mr Orengo said two draft concept papers on Land Use Policy and National and Regional Physical Development Plans are ready for discussion with stakeholders so that it is finalised.

The government has also created land banks for development purposes. Mr Orengo said they include the development of a port in Lamu, creation of special economic zones, resort cities and other infrastructure.

He said Cabinet has given a go-ahead to the development of the project that will connect Lamu to Southern Sudan.

The minister explained how his ministry is undertaking environmental conservation through cross-sector consultations giving an example of the Mau Forest, where the ministry is establishing an outer-perimeter boundaries of the Mau Complex through support from donor development partners.
He said the National Land Policy will be implemented consistently and for the benefit of all since the land reforms contemplated will not take place unless the Kenyan people understand that it is not possible for every person to own land as it is a finite resource.

“It is therefore often necessary to restrict the rights of ownership in facilitating equitable and sustainable resource utilization. All Kenyans must work hard to build the nation, increase productivity and prosperity and promote patriotism and nationalism amongst themselves,” he added.

The Ministry has drafted a land law amendment bill that will establish a land titles tribunal which will be introduced to Parliament once comments from the Land Law Reform Commission and the Attorney General are received.

He added that in the past, sound policies have failed because of lack of commitment towards implementation which has been ably tackled in the National Land Policy.

Mr Orengo stated that regular monitoring and evaluation reports will be made on the progress of the land reforms and remedial measures taken to ensure that land reforms remain on course.