THE HISTORICAL LAND INJUSTICES IN KENYA CAN NEVER BE SOLVED THROUGH THE PRESIDENTIAL FIAT The historical land injustices in our country dates back to the colonial days, when the land mass on the East Coast of Africa from Mombasa to Victoria Nyanza of what is presently called Kenya was marked as Britain’s spheres of influence, following the successful journey of exploration by the Scottish geologist Joseph Thomson through the much feared Masai land in 1883 and in which country even the unscrupulous Arab traders of the 18th century had never dared to pass. In 1885 our country was formalized into the British sphere of influence during the Berlin conference in Germany then presided over by Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck that partitioned Africa among European powers. As a result Britain extended its authority over Kenya through the orders in council of 1897 which allowed the usage of common law and statutes of general application over the communities in this part of the world. The common law jurisprudence upstaged our customary laws and practices which were subjected to the principles of natural justice and good conscience in the English context. The reception of common law introduced new systems of land ownership and vested the entire land in Kenya in the crown which managed it as public land and freeholds under private land which was different from community land ownership that existed before. The consequences of this new set of laws was the annexation of land that belonged to various communities in Kenya by the crown and which land was managed by the colonial government under the Governor on behalf of the Her Majesty the Queen. The annexed land was turned into public/crown land and freeholds /private land and the same was distributed and titles issued to the white settlers to practice extensive agriculture. It was as a result of the aforesaid that the white settlers were introduced in Kenya from 1902 during the reign of Governor Charles Eliot and settled in arable land which had been annexed in central, rift valley and western parts of Kenya. These areas have been categorized as white highlands in our history. By reason of the matters aforesaid various individuals and communities were displaced from their land and majority of this people and their descendants have remained landless since then to this date hence earning the name squatters. At the height of the independence crusade land was the prime factor that spearheaded the independence movements. Land was very emotive and has remained sensitive hitherto in our political discourses. The colonialists failed to correct the land injustices they had committed during their tenure and neither did the Lancaster constitution provide a clear frame work of sorting out the mess. Consequently the colonial government handed over the land problems to the Independent government led Prime minister and thereafter President Jomo Kenyatta. The independent leaders led by Kenyatta senior threw the opportunity to correct land mess occasioned by the colonialist outside the window when they allowed opportunism and selfishness to get into their heads by allocating to themselves the land that the independent government which they led had inherited from the colonial government instead of distributing it to the squatters. The net result of this blatant and irregular allocation of the land to the kin, kith, tribesmen and self at the expense of the landless people whose ancestors had been dispossessed off the land by the colonialists was animosity among the affected people and communities leading to land associated clashes which have rocked this nation since 1992 multiparty elections. Besides what we have continued to witness is a situation where individuals own idle land the size of the republic of Rwanda through such irregular allocations whereas others do not have even an inch of the parcel of land where they can put a structure or be buried when they die. In the circumstances it is in no doubt that President Uhuru Kenyatta is among the beneficiaries of such land that his father who was the Independent Prime minister and later President allocated to himself. Thus President Uhuru neither cannot purport nor have the moral authority today to issue Presidential decrees cancelling titles to land that his government now say was irregularly allocated to individuals and companies in Lamu when his family and other people in the corridors of power have benefited from the land through such process of allocation where the President and commissioner of land had sweeping powers to distribute land in Kenya in the manner which they liked before the coming into force of the 2010 constitution and which land the titles remain not revoked. Article 67 of the 2010 constitution has vested powers of management of the private, public and community land only in the National Land commission. Parliament is only mandated under article 68 of the same constitution to legislate laws that ensures efficient and fair administration of land in line with the constitution. Hence when l see President Uhuru issuing writs by fiat cancelling title deeds l pity him because it seems his wise men and himself are still wallowing in the powers his deceased father used to enjoy whilst the President in 1963. President Uhuru Kenyatta, times have changed and the land powers are with the National Land Commission but not with the presidency. In a nutshell the solutions to the historical land injustices in Kenya lies in the report of the truth justice and reconciliation commission that was established after the 2007/2008 post election violence which President Uhuru and the Jubilee administration are not willing to make it public but not the outdated executive orders that we are currently being treated to. It is important the report of the said commission must be made public in the original form in order to help to heal the wounds of the historical land injustices which have bedeviled this nation throughout the 20th century and has been carried forward to this 21st century.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 20:58:18 +0000
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