Debate on the national land policy started in Parliament on Wednesday, with MPs displaying rare enthusiasm over it and indicating a real desire to pass it without controversy.

Land, to a large extent, is the cause of political, legal and armed conflicts throughout history. Kenyans fought the White settlers before independence, mostly to recover stolen land.

Paradoxically, on the attainment of independence, the new leaders set out to amass land at the expense of the masses involved in the actual combat.

Whereas it was anticipated that independence would usher in an era where land would be equitably distributed, only a small clique benefited.

Given that background, it is easy to understand why successive governments have never formulated and implemented policies to right the wrongs.

When in 2003/04, the then Narc administration set up a committee to investigate and recommend ways of dealing with inequities in land ownership, little was done thereafter because there was no real political will to deal with the issue.

So when the country was inflamed by the election outcome last year, the attendant violence went beyond complaints over alleged poll rigging.

Instead, it cut through to the land question, with communities hounding out so-called "foreigners" so that they could take over their land.

The new policy provides a path out of the animosities associated with land ownership. Also, it prescribes what should be done to ensure proper land-use, as well as how to guard against excesses that allow the Executive to allocate public land. It is such excesses that saw Mau Forest hived off and dished out to individuals. The results are there for all to see.

Enacting a new land policy is imperative. In fact, it is one of the Agenda Four items that the Grand Coalition has to deal with.

Parliament, therefore, has a golden chance to do the country some good by thoroughly scrutinising, debating and adopting the policy.