How Kenyatta government flouted loan deal so that Big Names could get land

• When the transfer of farmland from departing British settlers to landless Africans began, the government decided to reserve farmhouses and 100 acres around them for purchase by those with means. However, the scheme was widely abused

The take-over by the rich of farms meant to settle the poor in the high-potential areas infuriated the British Government and confused government officials who did not want to take action or stop continued allocation of the 100-acre plots (Z-plots) to the rich.

Only one man — Mr James Maina Wanjigi, the Director of Settlements — dared to issue a directive to stop the allocation. But he was quickly overruled by Land and Settlement permanent secretary Peter Shiyukah.

Mr Wanjigi was asked by Mr Shiyukah to compile a list of the VIPs, or “big shots” as he later described them — who had received such land.

“You said that you would want to send this (list) for the President’s retention,” wrote Wanjigi in the covering letter dated January 22, 1966.

These details show why the settlements went wrong from the beginning and why the land equation in the country was tilted in favour of those close to power.

But angry that government officials had started to allocate themselves development funds, and plots in schemes they had funded to settle the landless, the British Ministry of Overseas Development asked the High Commission in Nairobi to seek more details.

Original correspondence from the period highlights the misuse of power.

On June 18, 1965, a year after funds from the World Bank and CDC had been used on the Z-plots without their knowledge, the British High Commission in Nairobi wrote to Mr Shiyukah asking whether the proposal to set aside “some of the best farm houses….with a certain amount of surrounding land had been implemented”.

By the time Mr Neil Brockett of the High Commission was writing this, he knew already that some key politicians, including President Kenyatta had acquired land in the schemes.

It appears that an April 1964 warning by the officer administering the settlement fund, N.S. Carey Jones that use of the World Bank/CDC money to finance the elite schemes might backfire was not heeded.

This warning, nay appraisal, was given to the Settlement Fund Trustees who were then ministers James Gichuru (Finance), Bruce MacKenzie (Agriculture) and Jackson Angaine (Lands and Settlement), suggesting that they should refer the change of policy to the British Government which had given money for the settlements schemes.

His suggestion, dated April 15, was that the Z-plots could “perhaps be accepted against IBRD (World Bank) schemes without reference back, provided that the buyers are men with agricultural experience and sufficient capital. If they are not then I would foresee that we could not claim any development loan finance for them and this could in turn raise with the British Government the use of the land purchase money,” wrote Jones in the Directive Paper No 35.

No one contacted the British Government on the matter and by July 1965, the Financial Controller (settlements) after “searching through old files” could not find such a letter. “We have therefore now to approach the British Government to obtain approval for the existing arrangements to continue…”.

One person took the bold initiative to stop any further allocation of the 100-acre plots on July 29, 1965. After a special visit by the World Bank and CDC officials, Mr Wanjigi stopped any further allocation of Z-plots because they appeared “to be inconsistent” with the financial agreements reached between Kenya and the lenders.

Approval for plots

“Until this matter is cleared with the lenders, I am afraid we have got to discontinue any more approvals for 100-acre plots,” he wrote.

But when this directive reached Mr Shiyukah, the PS called Mr Wanjigi to discuss the subject and followed it up with a letter. Mr Shiyukah was one of the beneficiaries of the Z-plots.

He wrote: “I confirm once more that if the decision of suspending the allocation of 100-acre plots is implemented, it would be met with a lot of opposition from the President, ministers and the public at large.”