Mahatma Gandhi famously said, "there is sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed". This is the reason why I aver that this country has enough land for all of us if only the corrupt and greedy few among us can be stopped by way of law and compelled to surrender what is considered as excessive back to the state so that it can be redistributed to the needy. The current state where individuals and corporations have title deeds for thousands of acres, when at the same time we have large numbers of squatters at the Coast and lots of displaced victims of political and ethnic animosities without any land to till, if only to grow food is ridiculous and untenable. Although there has been so much corruption and greed in the public sector particularly in land acquisition and appropriation, it's however, gratifying to note that there have been a few exceptions to the rule. A friend of mine once told me of a former Permanent Secretary, who against conventional wisdom turned down offers to be allocated public land by both Kenyatta and Moi governments and he continued with his clean slate of life not succumbing to bribery even when he became a head of a government corporation thereafter. Similarly, I have been told reliably that Francis Muthaura, the head of of public service has refused to bow to bribery in his long career as a public servant. Now that he is in the Ocampo list of six, it's up to Kenyans to view him differently or otherwise.
Anyway, we all know that land is a national and natural resource that when employed together with other factors of production like labor and capital could be used to make a nation wealthy, and in our case, develop from a needy third world backwater country to a status where we can comfortably feed ourselves without the need of walking the world with a begging bowl in hand. Unfortunately, our land laws in the last 47 years of independence have been at variance with this line of thinking and land has been used corruptly and greedily by the political elite and public servants to enrich themselves without so much caring for the needs of the nation. This has resulted in millions of people living as squatters particularly at the Coast Province and others who have been displaced through political unrest in several parts of the country who have been denied land for growing food crops. Unlike the few elite who use land for speculative purposes at the expense of the majority and national good, many people in this country who live in the rural areas view land as basic resource from where they can get food for their families. It's important therefore that the laws are streamlined in accordance with the new constitution so as to take care of this majority. We have expansive and largely uninhabited large swathes of land in this country that can be prepared to resettle the landless for productive utilization. It therefore beats logic why we still have squatters at the coast and the many landless families living in squalor in makeshift camps.
In the past few years, the government has been accused of buying land at exorbitant prices in Molo, Nyeri, Laikipia and Nakuru from powerful and politically connected individuals to resettle the displaced people without so much caring about their need for amenities such as water, electricity, roads, schools, etc. The purchase of the drier part of Solio Ranch is a case in point here. One wonders why the government can't borrow a leaf from the Israelis and establish settlement areas akin of the Kibbutz where a medley of people from different ethnic backgrounds can be provided with facilities to make a livelihood and produce extra for the rest of the country? I think this could be a great opportunity for integrating communities through creation of such "little Kenyas" in those expansive ranches and national parks.
It was recently reported in the press of a horrible killing of Moses Ole Mpoe at Njoro by people suspected to angered by his opposition to resettlement of post election violence victims (PEV), who are mainly Kikuyu, at Muthera Farm in Mau Narok near Tipis Center, a land that the Masai consider as originally theirs. Muthera farm belongs to the Mbiyu Koinange family but it had been recently invaded by Masai squatters who claim ownership. Why should the government insist on settling the PEV on this land which is at the dispute between the Masai and Kikuyu communities? Why not settle the PEV elsewhere to avoid stoking up fires of ethnic animosity? The government is expected to be an arbiter and not a provocative force against communities!
Whereas we have looked at land here as mainly a resource for food production, I think the government has the onerous duty of ensuring that the current land laws are streamlined, so that land is made easily available for housing, so that housing development companies and municipalities have the incentive to develop dwelling units to accommodate the poorest of the citizens who live in squalid conditions in the ubiquitous slums that dot our urban centers. There are also those enterprising Kenyans who may wish to set up industries and factories in both the rural and urban centers but over the years, it's as if the government only caters for the politically well connected as exemplified by all those who have set up Export Processing Zone facilities. Enterprise has never been and will never be the preserve of only those with good political connections or deep pockets and therefore there is need for the government to accommodate all entrepreneurs by offering land as an incentive for enterprise and wealth creation.
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