Experts fear proposed laws will derail land justice

Is there a clandestine plot to cripple land reforms, which seemed to be on the right track with enactment of the National Land Commission Act (2012)?

This is the question land stakeholders and experts have been grappling with since August after the government published three Bills.

If passed as proposed, stakeholders and experts are warning, the laws may forestall and derail ongoing reviews of past suspect and disputed land acquisitions being conducted by the National Land Commission (NLC).

The controversial proposed laws are; The Land Laws (Amendments) Bill 2015, Community Land Bill 2015 and Physical Planning Bill, 2015, which are now before the National Assembly after being studied and analysed by experts.

The changes have condensed the Historical Land Injustice Bill, Maximum and Minimum Acreage Bill and the Eviction and Resettlement Bill into one law.

BESTOWED WITH POWERS
Among ongoing reviews of suspected acquisitions involve Karura Forest land, which was hived when Mr Daniel Moi was the president.

In the new Bills, powers previously vested in the land commission have been reverted to the Cabinet secretary for Lands, Housing and Urban Development.

This has alarmed stakeholders, since the amendments (Omnibus Bus Bill) have come at a time when the Ministry of Lands has been on the spot over suspected conspiracy to alter records to aid fraud involving a prime piece of land in Karen, Nairobi.

The 2010 Constitution gave NLC sweeping powers to manage public land on behalf of the national and county governments.

The commission is also supposed to initiate investigations into present or historical land injustices and recommend appropriate redress, and monitor and have oversight responsibilities over land use planning throughout the country.

“What the government has done is to reduce the commission (NLC) into clerical work,” the Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Land Alliance, Mr Odenda Lumumba, noted and cited vested interested in the issue.

NO PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
The land commission has also opposed the Bill, saying the amendments were arrived at without the involvement of the public as required by the Constitution.

It has warned that the changes will end up wreaking havoc in the land sector.

The Omnibus Bill restores the powers of the defunct commissioner of lands by reverting key functions to a powerful chief registrar and the Cabinet secretary.
Among proposed amendments in the Bill is Clause 16 that proposes to overturn spousal rights and customary trust land rights caveats.

The Bill does not propose any replacement after removal of some clauses, which has the effect of opening up trust lands to wheeler-dealing without legal recourse, while also casually wiping out fundamental legal protections that sought to protect spouses, widows and orphans from deprivation of family land rights.

COMMUNITIES WILL HAVE CLOUT
The Community Land Bill, 2015, provides a legal frame work for recognising, registering and protecting community land.

And one of the primary concerns is to ensure communities are represented in governance of their land.

Currently, community land is held in trust by county governments. And once the Bill is passed, such land will be registered and owners issued with title deeds.

This will give communities the power to negotiate with the government for compensation of their land once it has been allocated for a public project.

Currently, communities cannot negotiate with the government for compensation of their land taken by projects such as the standard gauge railway or the Lapsset.