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Land has always an emotive issue in Kenya. The new constitution with its provisions on land and the pursuant legislation were all intended to improve country’s contentious land situation. However the recent goings on between the National Land Commission and the Lands Ministry calls into question whether Kenya’s land issue will ever be resolved.
Confidence in the ability of the bodies to resolve the country’s land issues is not helped by the sudden discovery of millions of ‘missing’ files from the lands registry. The first story about the files appeared in the Standard newspaper on 12th of May claiming that 10,000 ‘missing’ files had been discovered, during an audit of the central registry. More recently the Nation newspapers reported that more than a million ‘missing’ or ‘misplaced’ files had been recovered, and according to the Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Charity Ngilu, up to 500,000 files could still be missing.
The fact that so many land files are ‘missing’ or ‘misplaced’ is even more worrying when juxtaposed against the on-going turf wars between the Land Commission and the Lands Ministry. However the ongoing supremacy battles between the two land organs should not be surprising given their almost similar mandates.
Under the Constitution the National Land Commission is charged with managing public land on behalf of the national and county governments; recommending national land policy to the national government; advising the national government on a comprehensive programme for the registration of titles in land throughout the country; conducting research related to land and the use of natural resources, and making recommendations to appropriate authorities; assessing tax on land and premiums on immovable property in any area designated by law; as well as to monitor and have oversight responsibilities over land use planning throughout the country etc
According to the Lands Ministry’s website, its role is providing policy direction, setting national standards and coordination of all matters concerning lands, housing and urban development. The Ministry is responsible for putting in place policies and initiating laws that ensure sustainable land management and that promote sustainable housing for all and foster orderly urban development in the country.
Though the role of the Lands Ministry seems not be expansive as the that of the National Land Commission, one has to admit that the roles of the two organs seem quite similar, so its almost no wonder that the two have been fighting over who does what. The situation is worsened by the fact that the laws that were intended to clarify the land situation including the roles of the different organs governing land were among the laws rushed through Parliament in 2012/2013 to meet the constitutional deadline on lands.
The situation is unlikely to be resolved soon as the Land Commission recently got its budget cut by more than half from (Kshs 1.9 billion to Kshs. 652 million) while the Lands Ministry had its budget increased from Kshs 15.5 billion to Kshs 21.7 billion. The allocation appears to favour the Ministry over the Commission. One hopes with a bigger budget the Ministry will hasten the digitization of the land registry and improve service delivery. It is hoped that the Supreme Court to which the matter has been referred will resolve the issue once and for all.
Have you received better service at the Lands Ministry after it resumed duty following the recent find of ‘missing’ and ‘misplaced’ files?
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