President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive to revoke the allocationof some 500,000 acres of land in Lamu County has stirred a heated debate, with questions being raised as to whether he acted within the law.
Experts have challenged the decision on the grounds that the legal provisions preclude the President from dishing out or revoking land titles. Neither can Parliament enact any law that allows dispossession of citizens of land or any other property.
The Constitution bestows the powers of managing public land, including survey and issuing of titles, to the National Lands Commission, which, unfortunately, has been embroiled in a bitter territorial war with Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu.
Clearly, no one has business making resolutions on land matters without following a constitutional process that includes seeking court approval to seize any property.
At another level, the presidential order raises serious doubts as to whether the revocation of the titles will resolve the vexed land question in Lamu and in turn, help to end the conflicts and violence that have afflicted the region for the past two months.
Arguably, it has been noted that the mayhem in Lamu and other parts of the Coast is linked to the land question. Generally, the locals are piqued because most of their land has been taken up by upcountry people, leaving many dispossessed and helpless.
But resolving this intractable problem requires a strategic approach. Reports by the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation as well as the Commission of Inquiry into the Illegal/Irregular of Public Land (Ndungu Commission) provide evidence and recommendations on how to deal with them. Yet none has been implemented.
The point is that land problems at the Coast and in other parts of the country cannot be resolved through decrees, which are not only unconstitutional, but also unfeasible and unsustainable.
Source: Daily Nation
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