News 2004

Why report on land is withheld

Publication Date: 10/06/2004

NATION correspondent JOHN MBARIA talked to Lands minister Amos Kimunya on the steps the Government is taking to reform land ownership.

We started the process because we were serious on it. It is something we had stated in the Narc manifesto and we are basically bringing into fruition what we have been yearning for before we got into government. We believe that a comprehensive policy is the only way of engendering sound land management.

Should Kenyans trust the Government on this matter at a time when there are suspicions that it is sitting on the Ndung'u Land Commission Report?

I think the people will have to learn to trust the Government and avoid suspicions created by politicians. Nobody is sitting on the Ndung'u Report to doctor it as has been alluded. 

The report touches on things that were done by a sitting Government elected by the people of Kenya. It touches on thousands of people who have been allocated land and we cannot just handle it carelessly just because people are demanding that it should be released. 

I think people need to realise that there is a lot of sensitivity and any careless move on that report could cause tension that would take time to quell. 

It could be misused politically by some people to divide Kenyans along political and tribal lines. So we have to handle it sensitively and that is why we are taking our time to ensure that we really look through it as a Cabinet; we own its recommendations and agree on what is the best way of engaging Kenyans to debate it. 

We are being very cautious on how we handle it. We cannot change the facts. It is known who got what land. This is public information and anybody willing can get it any time from lands records. 

Our other concern is on how to act on it and yet not be seen like we are engaging in witch-hunting or are fighting anyone. Ours is to ensure justice is done for everyone.

The policy-making process has received funding from donors including DfID, SIDA, USAid and the Irish government. These donors, and particularly DfID have gone ahead to second an expatriate, a Mr Martin Adams. Are you as a minister not afraid that the British, who stand accused of initiating the land crisis Kenyans are trying to solve, might end up influencing the outcome of the process?

I am not afraid at all because what we have done from the word go is to ensure that the National Land Policy is a Kenyan-driven process. All the six thematic groups have people representing Kenyan interests. But we asked the international community to support us with their resources and in terms of giving the process an international dimension. We would like our National Land Policy to be the best in the world and for that we needed to get the expertise and the experiences from all the other countries that have done similar exercises. 

What Martin Adams is doing is to bring his experience on similar processes within Africa. He is not alone. There are other people who will be coming in. And they do not necessarily have to be foreigners. There are so many Kenyans who have been working at the international level on developing land policies for other countries and we are hoping they will bring that experience to enrich our process. The UN-Habitat has also been providing us with examples of practices from elsewhere. No single person will influence the National Land Policy.

At some stage you will be asking members of the public to agree to some, if not all, of the principles that those enacting the policy will come up with. Now, what has the Government put in place to ensure that we do not end up with a stalemate like we are having with the Draft Constitution?

We have already invited members of the public, through media advertisements, to give their views. The various interest groups are already represented in the thematic groups. We have held a series of consultations with many stakeholders to get their support as we go along.

The mistake with Bomas is that it was rushed through and politics overtook rational decision-making. We have learnt the mistake of Bomas and we are taking that on board as we do the policy. We are going to avoid the politicisation of the process through sensitisation of the public as we go along. After December, we will be engaging MPs in discussing the initial report. We will also be having a national stakeholders workshop so that everyone feels involved. 

You have stated that the process will be complete by June next year. Is this a realistic time frame bearing in mind that the process will go through a national consensus-building exercise?

Yes, I do believe that June is still a realistic time line. We have to bear in mind that immediately we have the policy, we will embark on updating land laws to conform with the policy. I would like to do this during our first term in Government so that by the time we get to the second term, we will be implementing the policy with all the laws in place. 

I do not want us to delay. There are people who are waiting to be settled...there are clash victims who need to be settled and there is a lot of agitation by Kenyans for transitional justice and the earlier we can get the framework in place the better.

Ownership of land is a critical issue today. You obviously know that millions of Kenyans are either landless, or are squatters or hold onto tiny uneconomical pieces of land while a few Kenyans hold onto hundreds of thousands of cares. At the end of the process are we likely to see a ceiling on the amount of land individuals and families can own?

This is something that has been discussed on many occasions. I see it as a natural product of the policy-making process. But the quantum of the maximum and the minimum amount of land an individual can own is something that will be determined not just by the wish to put a flat figure but by what will be deemed to be the best and most efficient use of land in different areas. For instance, we will be able to determine that areas that are suitable for wheat production need a minimum acreage of 1,000 acres for economical production. Eventually, the maximum that an operation can be given will be a factor of particular land uses.

So, it is not a matter of saying that no Kenyan can own more than 10 acres as this would make nonsense of our agrarian reforms. The policy will have to cater for large-scale production, which requires thousands of acres. It will also cater for wildlife conservation so that we can maintain the big herds which might require probably 100,000 acres. 

Currently, how much land does the Government have in the country's land bank that it can distribute to needy Kenyans?

I do not think that we have any land that is lying idle and waiting to be distributed. What we have are lands that are currently under one use or the other. And to settle people, we will have to convert land from one use to another. For example, we have land in Kibwezi that was set aside for agricultural research. The issue those making the policy will have to address is how much of that Kibwezi land we are willing to surrender to settle the landless. 

We are also looking afresh at all the past settlement schemes to know what land is not being utilised by the current owners and we are considering whether we should purchase it to settle needy people. 

How far is the Government willing to go in addressing historical injustices pertaining to land?

We are committed to settling all historical injustices against Kenyans. It is one of the things that is in-built partly within the National Land Policy and in the Draft Constitution. 

But historical injustices go beyond land. There are economic marginalisation, displacements which occurred in 1992 and 1997 and during the pre-independence period.

Land use planning is embedded in the process concept paper. You obviously know that the mess we are experiencing today, misuse of resources, environmental degradation and unchecked urban sprawl is a result of lack of planning. Is the Government exploring the possibility of setting up a National Planning Authority charged with planning the entire country and which would outsource resources and professionals to raise its capacity?

Our physical planning department in collaboration with the University of Nairobi and with the United Nations Regional Centre for Planning & Development have actually been developing regional plans. They have completed the Nyandarua District regional plan and are working on Kwale. But we might take so long to cover the entire country owing to lack of capacity. This is why we have been discussing the possibility of coming up with a National Planning Authority which would integrate what both the physical planning and the urban planning departments are doing and what the ministry of National Planning is doing. 

As the lands minister, what are you promising Kenyans after the process is through?

That we will have a better framework of managing our land as a resource to ensure that it becomes more productive for all of us. It is my hope that the policy will also minimise ongoing and potential conflicts over land.

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