Concern as report reveals 70 per cent of land is not titled

What you need to know:

  • The revelation, which comes as a shock, is an indictment on the lethargy of previous regimes to ensure land security.

  • Effectively, it means 406,916 km2 of the 581,309 km2 (224,445 square miles) is not registered in anyone’s name.

  • What forms the former North Eastern province and counties in Coastal region are the worst affected.

A massive 70 per cent of the country’s total land mass is not titled, latest government figures show.

This is despite a sustained campaign by the Jubilee administration to give out title deeds in parts of the country. The revelation, which comes as a shock, is an indictment on the lethargy of previous regimes to ensure land security.

Effectively, it means 406,916 km2 of the 581,309 km2 (224,445 square miles) is not registered in anyone’s name, almost making it a state of nature. The situation also provides an enabling environment for land grabbing, a thriving vice especially in what should be public land as listed in the recommendations of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) that have yet to be implemented.

ALLOTMENT LETTERS

Contained in a brief to the State House by the Lands Cabinet Secretary Farida Karoney last month, the document, titled Status of Land Reforms, highlights the strides made in the last five years under President Uhuru Kenyatta and the targets to be attained before he leaves power in 2022.

What forms the former North Eastern province and counties in Coastal region are the worst affected.

Nairobi, though notorious for use of allotment letters as proof of ownership, and Central Kenya lead in the category of some of the most titled regions in the country. Mr Kenyatta issued some 50,000 titles in May to residents of Nairobi’s Eastlands.

Former white highlands, comprising Nairobi and Central Kenya where the colonialists lived, are titled. The data shows that Mombasa county, perhaps given the lucrative nature of the land there, follows the two regions.

SUB-DIVISION

“Nairobi is largely titled especially for the big blocks of land but the sub-divisions which have been done over time are not. It explains the fact that, instead of having at least one million titles, Nairobi has a paltry 200,000 of them,” the CS says.

The areas which have never been titled at all fall in the semi-arid regions. Kajiado, Taita- Taveta, Narok, Tana River, Lamu, Marsabit, Samburu, the whole of Turkana save for portions in Lodwar, Garissa, Mandera and what constitutes the former North Eastern Province. Most of this is community land. Vast lands in Ukambani are also in the category.

Rift Valley is covered, especially in the areas where whites lived like Nandi and Trans Nzoia, as well as most of the towns in the country. To address this, the CS outlines part of the ongoing programme.

CORRUPTION

“Processing and registration of additional 1 million title deeds countrywide at an estimated cost of KSh6.5 billion is in the pipeline and digitisation of the remaining 39 land registries at an estimated cost of Sh4.4 billion. We are also working on a National Land Value index by 2019 at an estimated cost of Sh500 million,” Ms Karoney told the Sunday Nation.

The ministry has over time faced criticism for the fact that land searches are still not available online even despite giving an undertaking to do so, a situation that continues to fuel corruption in the sector with a number of prospective buyers being forced to pay bribes in order to get them.

According to land experts, the answer to Kenya’s land problem goes beyond issuance of titles to squatters and drafting a raft of legislations. They recommend a far-reaching and long-term approach.

This is because land and economic marginalisation are bedmates. The 2007 post-election violence and the secessionist rhetoric in Mount Elgon (the vanquished Sabaot Land Defence Forces, SLDF) and at the Coast (subdued Mombasa Republican Council, MRC) are to a large extent linked to land ownership.

TECHNOLOGY

Ms Karoney argues that ownership of the document is another way of guaranteeing peace among communities and as such, the government is deploying satellite technology to cover more acreage.

“Property owning democracy is the easiest way to solve conflict associated with this key factor of production. It should be hard to grab a titled land. We will scale it up to ensure we title both private and public entities,” she said.

To its credit, the Jubilee government has invested some Sh5.67 billion into processing 3,061,000 title deeds averaging 760,000 title deeds per year since 2013. This is a significant improvement compared to 5.6 million titles averaging 112,000 title deeds per year issued between 1963 and 2012.

SECURITY

“By 2015, 95 per cent of the title deeds were uncollected by land owners. The concerted effort in issuance of title deeds has reduced the uncollected rate to 14 per cent in June 2017 leading to improved livelihoods through security of tenure and access to financial credit – 648,000 title deeds increase in registration and issuance per year (578 per cent),” reads the report.

For the 50,000 titles in Nairobi, the report says, “This will unlock the potential of land owners in the city and also bring to an end long-standing disputes between land owners and shareholders in land-buying companies and cooperatives.”

It indicates that an Integrated Urban Plan and Metropolitan Spatial Plan to guide development in the cities and urban areas has been developed.

There is also a National Spatial Plan in place that the CS in the document says: “All agricultural potential areas and rangelands shall be carefully planned and utilised to promote them as areas for high value agricultural production and manufacturing (Agropolis strategy) in the perspective of the Big Four agenda.”

SPECULATION

Processing and registration of 350,000 title deeds from land buying companies, survey and planning of market centres, subdivisions, ongoing land adjudication sections and settlement schemes and school titling programme are some of the areas of success.

“This will improve people’s livelihoods through security of tenure, enhanced food production and promotion of investments.”

Development of a National Land Value index to determine the cost of land in different parts of the country will also guide taxation on idle private arable land; leasing of idle Government land for commercial farming, agro-processing and manufacturing; creation of strategic housing land bank to facilitate affordable housing; and curb speculation on land.

Another milestone is the digitization of 12 land registries to guarantee investor confidence through reduced timelines in registering property, protecting investors and property owners from fraudulent land transactions.

REGISTRIES

“It is unlocking the financial potential of the land owners. The construction of six land registries and renovation of 15 land offices to facilitate easy access, storage, retrieval and sharing of land information,” it says.

The report also indicates that some 6,000 squatters and forest evictees in Lamu, Kilifi, Taita Taveta, Mombasa, Trans Nzoia and Kwale counties have been settled.

At the same time, The National Land Commission (NLC) has been charged with public school titling programme, including a mechanism for fencing off public schools. The status update shows that 762 out of 7,600 applications received from public schools for issuance of title deeds have been processed.