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| Turkana Traditional Dancers. |
Something must be done to streamline community land matters. We hold that the one-fits-it-all community land laws, and which painfully still exist in our books, have contributed immensely to the economic marginalization of pastoralists.
The link between marginalization and community land policy is as clear as day and night. Marginalization is a child of lopsided community land policies.
Fifty-two years after independence, a huge portion of the Kenyan people still cannot access bank loans or participate in other economic ventures because of one obstacle: They have no papers to prove ownership of land. They live in a state of uncertainty owing to the fact that the Allotment Letters they hold do not guarantee them land ownership protections enjoyed by those with Title Deeds.
They can be removed from the plots they ‘own’ anytime and by anybody!
And when it comes to heavy investments, like the oil exploration carried out in Turkana County, the Wind Power plant in Marsabit County, the proposed Resort City in Isiolo and many others, community engagement mechanisms remain shaky and outdated.
Only a few Nairobi-based honchos (and perhaps connected local politicos) know the contents of these deals.
Little do people in these lands know about the centrality of land laws in their lives. Maybe, this explains why Community Land Bill is far from being passed into law.
Here come our questions: Is there a deliberate move to sideline nomadic communities from the management of their ancestral lands? What is the justification for this inordinate delay in enacting this crucial law? What legal framework guides the ongoing economic activities carried out on pastoral lands?
Personally I expected His Excellency the President to say something concerning community lands when he launched the Wind Power plant in Laisamis, Marsabit County the other day.
Surprisingly, goodies attached to wind power filled the air. There was no mention of government's commitment in securing community land rights or at least recognizing that there exists a lacuna in laws regulating the same.
I know some issues are (politically) difficult to admit. But we are here to remind Kenya's Officialdom that the moment you deny pastoralists or other inhabitants of lands hitherto classified as community lands Titles Deeds (or any other instruments of land ownership), you technically subject them to economic oblivion.
And this is why marginalization will eternally taint our national progress. We must not allow this to happen in post-2010 Kenya. (You see, our beautiful 2010 Constitution provides clear answers).
There is, however, a window to change this condition - for good. One, discard that "official creed" that prescribes pastoralists as people who cannot hold individual land titles ‘for they know no value for land’.
We admit communal land usage is a key factor. But individual land rights are equally important. They must be anchored in law. Adopt hybrid land titling in relation to community land. Individual and communal/group land titles come in handy.
Two, pastoralists are part and parcel of Kenya’s economic thinking. Proper mapping of pastoral lands is badly needed to unlock the economic potential over there.
And concerning those who think they can sneak in and negotiate deals while excluding communities, we say one thing: Protect us from these malcontents. Seal all the loopholes they have capitalized on to sanitize their dirty deals. Reveal the contents of already signed deals.
Mr. President a robust citizen-minded Community Lands Act is what we want. Nothing else.
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