Resolve emotive land issue
One of the people who invaded the Kenyatta family-owned Northlands farm and stole livestock on Monday, March 27, 2023.
Land has been emotive throughout history because nothing can exist without it. Continents, states and nations all depend on land as the anchor for their existence. Wars have been fought because of land and the demarcation of boundaries.
An example of bloody clashes over land is in the Middle East, where Palestinians and Israelis have been locked in a conflict stretching over decades over the disputed Gaza Strip. Kenya and Uganda have had frosty relations over Migingo Island.
While diplomatic solutions are usually sought for the sake of peace, at times restless and aggrieved parties decide to take the law into their own hands and invade disputed lands, leading to confrontations and even bloodshed.
Then-Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe set a dangerous precedent when he asked his landless people to invade private land belonging to white farmers. While this earned Mugabe the “hero” tag from his people, the West perceived him as a villain and even threatened him with sanctions.
Recently, 1,000 disenchanted youth invaded land belonging to the Kenyatta family and destroyed and looted property, including trees and livestock. Shortly afterwards, a sisal farm at the coast was invaded.
This is a grim pointer to the fact that the squatter issue is boiling up and leaders and landowners must diffuse the powder keg that is the inequitable distribution of land. Local communities need to be empowered to own land, a major factor of production.
Once people acquire land and the relevant ownership documents, they will be in a better position to acquire credit, which they can use to start businesses and improve their standards of living.
However, nobody should advocate land seizures as that will only escalate the conflicts, bearing in mind that there are laws protecting private land. The best way out is for the government to negotiate with the private landowners to sell the underutilised chunks at a fair price, giving priority to local communities.
Mr Mwandambo is a freelance journalist and blogger. [email protected].
