Ibrahim Mwathane
6 July 2009
opinion
Nairobi — Arguably, Kenya's is the most unequal society in East Africa.
It is not unusual to find the very poor and landless pitching camp outside thousands-acre swathes of land invariably owned by former or serving government bigwigs or politicians.
These landless form a cheap pool of labour for the farms.
They can hardly ever afford education for their children who, inevitably, replace them as farm hands upon death. They are tied to an endless circle of poverty.
This situation is to be found in the Coast and parts of Eastern, Central and Rift Valley Provinces, where the inequality reigns supreme.
In the cities and municipalities, you will find some of the best homes you could find anywhere in the world while packed next door are thousands living in deplorable slum conditions.
This fuels insecurity and political instability. Little wonder that such people were so amenable to political manipulation during Kenya's 2007 post-election violence.
The wealth of most people in Kenya will easily be traced back to the land.
The large farms or plots of land in town were allocated for a song, but usually in exchange for a helping hand in the nation's politics, by either the colonial or post-colonial governments.
Such plots were easily sold back to government institutions at exaggerated prices, while others mortgaged title to government-owned financial institutions to kick off chains of well-paying enterprises.
Hardly any of the very rich worked their way through earnings from salary or any exemplary work of art or sports.
Land, therefore, is indeed wealth and how a country distributes it could make or break its social, economic and political order. Kenya is perhaps paying a price for maintaining a skewed order in its land sector for far too long.
That is why the recent approval of the national land policy, the platform to fundamental land reforms in Kenya, is good news to the many who are sincerely committed to redressing the situation.
A sessional paper will now be drawn up and tabled for discussion and approval by parliament.
Given that in Kenya's parliament are to be found many beneficiaries of land wealth, approval will not be automatic.
It is however expected that parliament could take cue from the Cabinet and the prevailing public mood to prioritise and approve the policy.
If that were to be, this would be perhaps a landmark for Kibaki's legacy and a political high for the coalition government, badly in need of a good score from the Kenyan public and the global community.
Besides, Kenya Vision 2030, the country's long-term planning strategy, identifies land reforms as an essential component if the country is to transform into the middle-income ranks by year 2030.
Also, following the post-election violence, the agreement signed by President Mwai Kibaki of PNU and Prime Minister Raila Odinga of ODM under the National Dialogue and Reconciliation Accord identified land as one of the key issues to be addressed if the country is to attain meaningful and sustainable peace and prosperity. This should provide clarity and urgency to parliament and government on the issue.
The Kenya National Land Policy contains some key features that have ruffled feathers though.
The policy sets to enhance the security of tenure for all.
It walks a careful balance between those who have and those who haven't to ensure that the economic order is not adversely interrupted.
While it calls for the protection of the land rights of all, it goes on to require the limiting of 999 year leases to 99 years and the taxation of unutilised land. It in addition provides for the resolution of historical injustices.
It is the large-scale landowners who in most cases have unutilised 999-year-lease swathes of land; it is therefore they who would bear the brunt of taxation, something most are not taking so kindly and have lobbied against.
It is the powerful and wealthy in politics and government who have a majority of the undeveloped plots in towns who risk taxation once the policy is implemented. This is not welcome.
Settlers of British origin have also mis-perceived the requirement for the resolution of land-related injustices as focusing on their interests, given that their land holdings were bequeathed at the expense of indigenous Kenyan communities.
It is however unlikely that the legal and administrative frameworks proposed for establishment under the policy to look into these issues would be retributive given the obvious economic implications this would predicate.
Again, the net effect of not addressing and stabilising the land issue in Kenya implies the retention of an unstable political environment, which portends a much greater threat to the investments of those opposed to the policy in the immediate and long-term.
In the event that Parliament approves the policy, Kenya will have joined the ranks of three other regional states -- Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi -- which have formulated holistic land policies.
Uganda is yet to complete its land policy, though it conceptually remains ahead of Kenya on the matter after enacting its 1995 constitution, consequently establishing a National Land Commission and local level land governance institutions as Kenya now intends.
However, the East African Community is yet to take advantage of this reform mood in East Africa to establish a permanent desk to address land and land-related issues of a regional interest.
Indeed, the Framework and Guidelines for Land Policy in Africa, presented for approval at the 13th African Union summit of heads of state and government held in Libya last week, recognises the centrality and need for regional economic blocs to drive implementation of land policies.
Given the emerging issues of concern such as cross-border grazing, environmental degradation, disputes on inter-state boundaries and wildlife migration, among others, East Africa must quickly begin to address land and related issues in a holistic and co-ordinated manner.
So, as Africa begins to urge governments to formulate and implement land policies to strengthen land rights, enhance productivity and secure livelihoods, East Africa should quickly conform, while Kenya's parliament should expeditiously approve the proposed national land policy for early implementation. This would be a good start to correcting the evident inequality we have continued to decry.
Ibrahim Mwathane is a former chairman of the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya.
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