Time is ripe now for ‘People’s Summits’

The season of State House Summits has come to an end.

What began with energy, openness and inclusivity later turned into stage-managed, public relations events with vetted guests singing the achievements of the Jubilee regime.

The corruption debate will be long remembered for Mr Kenyatta’s desperate outburst, “Mnataka nifanye nini” and the non-appearance of John Githongo and David Ndii.

This was followed by the Land Summit, which proved to be another well-choreographed event designed to conceal the failure of the Lands ministry and the National Land Commission (NLC) to bring about any meaningful reform in the lands sector.

The summit cunningly avoided the thorny issue of land ownership in the country and instead kept dwelling on the number of title deeds the regime has issued.

In Jubilee’s world, titling is land reform.

Put another way, professionalism and regularisation of ownership was all that was required in the matter of land as far as the government is concerned.

The country does possess a blueprint for comprehensive land reform but a bold progressive chapter in the Constitution, consistency in land legislation and a radical land policy alone are not enough.

Reform is not possible without reformers.

The Lands ministry and the NLC lack visionary leaders who have a feasible plan on how the urban and rural poor can have access to land as envisaged in the National Lands Policy.

In every city and large town, 60 per cent of the residents live in informal settlements and occupy pathetic tenements.

NLC'S FAILURE

Yet national and county governments have no provision or heart for their welfare.

Elaborate housing plans proposed by county government are designed by estate agents, unaffordable to and contemptuous of the poor and will in all likelihood lead to more evictions and displacement of the most vulnerable group in society.

The NLC are in office for over three years but still have no inventory on public land despite that being their core mandate.

They hop from site to site like fire fighters together with a bevy of TV cameras but public land continues to be grabbed, contested and developed.

This week — for the umpteenth time — the people of Kibarani, Mombasa were threatened by an illegal eviction.

It is bad enough living with endless pollution from the nearby county dump, but when the County Commissioner conspires with ‘private developers’ to evict you from land whose ownership is a matter in a Mombasa court then you know how little you matter to your nation.

The land question can never be resolved until the rights of the poor and pastoralists are addressed.

Yet governments plan elaborate projects in a manner that suggests these groups will soon cease to exist or will fit into their models of development.

The NLC have been a huge disappointment.

They are happy to be finally accommodated by the Lands ministry and have joined the status quo in the process.

Expiring leases have been renewed without any consideration for the landless or the poor and nothing has been set aside for urban expansion or inclusivity. 

Ultimately, we may need People’s Summits to address the majority’s plight. We might start with one on Land and Corruption.

[email protected] @GabrielDolan1