24 July 2008
Nairobi — Absentee owners of public land have been put on notice - utilise the resource or risk having it revert to Government ownership.
Lands minister James Orengo on Wednesday said the game was up for beneficiaries of public land who held it for private profiteering or for bank guarantees.
Responding to MPs during debate on the Sh2.2 billion 2008/2009 budget for his ministry, Mr Orengo said it was not right for a few people to hold idle land.
Sitting on it
"We are not going to allocate land to people who are not able to use it. If you are given public land and you are merely sitting on it, you are going to pay for it."
Mr Orengo said it was time hefty charges were levied on idle land to encourage production of food. But the final solution for the land ownership problem in Kenya was in developing a national policy, he said.
The Draft National Land Policy, he said, proposes that taxes be charged on land held in public trust but not used. Mr Orengo told Parliament that corruption, for which the Lands ministry had long been associated with, will be fought vigorously.
Parliament passed the Land ministry's budget without amendments, even as MPs said the docket's allocation was too little.
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