Commentaries
It's Time to Discuss And Get Over Land Issues
- Details
- Published on Friday, 13 June 2008 17:26
Land was at the centre of our struggle against British colonialism in Kenya. The Kikuyu, who felt most aggrieved by British acquisition of their land for white settler farming, took up arms in the 1950s to regain their holdings. They did not call their movement Mau Mau, as the British vulgarised it, but Land Freedom Movement, and their soldiers, Land Freedom Army.
The Maasai lost most land to the British, as did the Kalenjin. But the Luo, Abagusii, Taita and Giriama also lost substantial fertile land to the settlers. THE CONTINUING TRAGEDY IS THAT when the British left, those who took over political power and administration did not handle land transfers and reforms transparently.
They used most of the money which Kenya had borrowed from the British and the World Bank for buying land from the departing white settlers in their own interests. Those whose lands had been grabbed by the white farmers were not given a chance to reclaim their pieces, nor were the borders of various ethnicities properly demarcated after the British left.
After grabbing their pieces of land from former settler farms, Jomo Kenyatta's officials lost interest in the policy of land demarcation and registration, which had started in the late 1950s, headed by Roger Swynnerton.
To date, most rural communities in Kenya have no land title deeds. In Yimbo, where I come from, land registration efforts by the Government stalled several decades back. in several areas, particularly in Kisii, Bunyore and Maragoli, the thick population densities are unbearable.
The Government is watching, but is doing completely nothing. And yet there are certain individual Kenyans who own thousands of acres, most of which they cannot even put to use. I have seen certain individual sisal farms at the Kenya Coast, and certain individual coffee farms in Central and Rift Valley provinces, which are larger than Bondo District! Is there any wonder that the illegal Mungiki sect are up in arms, demanding their human rights? Did God intend some people to eat in excess and others to starve?
Leaving aside debates over land ownership, let us look at general land use in Kenya. In Luoland, agriculture is stalling, not because the Luo are lazy, but because most land in Nyanza belongs to backward peasants who do not want to sell their pieces, and are also not financially able to cultivate them.
We definitely need to change land laws to enable those who have got the capacity to farm to get into Kenya's idle land. Even more worrying is the manner in which rural folks misuse prime agricultural land by building homes.
Why don't we rethink Julius Nyerere's vijiji (villages) system? If we persuaded communities to live in urbanised villages, a lot of fertile land could be opened up for agriculture. Such townships could easily be supplied with water, electricity, clinics and other social amenities.
A TRIP ACROSS THE DENSELY POPUlated Kisii districts gives the impression that one is travelling through a vast urban slum. But if the Abagusii were persuaded to build their homesteads around their little cities, like Ogembo, Keroka, Nyamira, Suneka and Nyakoe, space could be created for extensive farming and ranching.
In any case, urbanisation is the trend worldwide, and the earlier we planned urban settlements, the better. True, everybody needs a piece of land on which to live. We cannot yet build our houses in space. And yet the land mania in Kenya is worrying, and needs very carefully worked out policies.
Let nobody own more than 1,000 acres.
And as the population grows, we should also devise land policies for ranching, or else, in future there might be no nyama choma (roasted meat) for the gluttons. I am sure Mr Orengo has got all these land issues and problems on his screen, and it is for all of us to stop the rich and selfish people from blocking his vision.
