Land is still a sore point between Kenyans and the Jubilee government

The government is yet to achieve any major milestone in implementing its ambitious land reform agenda three months after coming into power.

“We are still jogging on the same spot that the previous regime left the country in terms reforming the land sector,” says Mr Odenda Lumumba, the co-ordinator of the Kenya Land Alliance (KLA), which advocates for reforms in policies and laws governing land.

“There is nothing substantive that has been achieved since they took over from the last regime. We are yet to get a clear direction on how they intend to implement their manifesto,” he went on.

However, Lands, Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu disagrees. She told the Daily Nation that the government had already streamlined the issuance of title deeds and that the process was now digitised.

“Already, 8,000 title deeds are ready and will be given soon,” she says.

The ministry, she says, is also partnering with the National Lands Commission which is investigating how title deeds were issued in a bid to deregister land grabbers.

The commission, chaired by Dr Mohammed Swazuri, manages public lands on behalf of the national and county governments.

It reportedly receives at least 20 public complaints daily on issues like delayed or denied official searches, duplication of titles, grabbed public land and corruption by land officials.

But its work, according to Mr Ibrahim Mwathane, a consultant in survey and land information management, is being hampered by lack of finances.

“We were informed that only Sh241 million has been voted for use by the National Land Commission for the year 2013-14. In a commission of nine members, a CEO and the technical officers to be soon recruited, this is even not enough for the year’s salaries,” he stated.

Jubilee also promised to address several land related issues such as repossessing all illegally occupied public land without any compensation; prosecute land grabbers, especially government officials as well as giving titles to community held land.

Every Kenyan, they further promised, will have a right to lease a reasonable holding of land in their community. They also promised to establish and reinforce a mandatory land title register, computerise and digitise the land registry and management system, reform land control boards and abolish search fees, as well as the adjudication and titling of community land.

“Even though it is too early, we have not seen any of this being implemented. It appears also that the commission has not been adequately funded to do its job,” said Mr Lumumba.

“By now the government should have sorted out resettlement of the IDPs, told us how they will sort out those who will lose their land as a result of the Lapsset project and oil exploration in Turkana. We have not heard anything from them,” he says.

Mr Mwathane says the Jubilee government must give priority to a number of issues that have the potential for quick results.

“Corruption in land transactions is one of the most fundamental concerns in the land sector. If their manifesto is to be taken seriously, abolition of search fees, though with adverse implications to annual land revenue, would be quite popular and well received. The abolition of this fee only requires a gazette notice,” he says.

He goes on; “The establishment of a modern land information management system will largely reduce corruption and duplication of land records and increase the security of documents. If effectively delivered, this is one output that would define the new government for years to come.”

“They must ensure that they provide the national land commission sufficient political goodwill and budgetary support to enable it to effectively protect public land and address long term issues like repossession of public land and the resolution of historical injustices, including the coast land issue,” he concludes.