Report calls for govt seizure of grabbed land

Huge tracts of land illegally allocated to private developers should be repossessed by the Government, according to a draft report into the grabbing of public land.

If implemented by the Kibaki administration, it could see almost 750,000 acres hived off from forests returned to the State – plus land snatched from national parks and game reserves, wetlands, sites bordering rivers and lakes, and land belonging to national museums.

The Government should repossess all forest land illegally – or irregularly – allocated to private developers, where the beneficiaries have not occupied or developed the areas, the draft recommends.

In one infamous case, the report states that the Kiptagich settlement scheme of 1,812 hectares was meant to settle the Ogiek community, but instead was grabbed by well connected individuals and politicians. 

Other cases mentioned in the draft report are the illegal allocation of parts of the Ngong and Karura forests near Nairobi, where more than 1,100 hectares were handed to private developers.

Also all Nyayo Tea Zones should be abolished and the land reverted to the forest department, states the report, by a commission chaired by Nairobi lawyer Paul Ndung'u.

The report, commissioned in July last year, and handed to President Kibaki on July 2, this year, has yet to be officially released.

However, a draft of the finished version stated clearly that forest land in prime areas – and that in the tea zones – was allocated to people as a way of raising campaign funds during the 1988, 1992, 1997 and 2002 General Elections.

The Government should revoke land titles and repossess all forest subject to lease agreements or whose leases were fraudulently acquired.

The draft of the final report also recommends that all excess land allocated to public bodies like schools and colleges should be revoked.

Unoccupied settlement schemes proposed in forests should be reviewed, the report recommends.

And it also states that all trust land forests should be surveyed and gazetted to bring all forests under the protection of the Forest Act.

On wetlands and land alongside rivers and lakes – known as riparian land – the draft recommends that the Government should revoke individual or private titles granted in such areas, including that now owned by Coast Acquaculture and Lake Naivasha allocations.

All Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) land that has been irregularly or illegally allocated to private developers should also be revoked and returned to the state, the report says.

The Commission of Inquiry into Illegal and Irregular Allocation of Public Land, chaired by Mr Ndung'u, states that the illegal and irregular allocations of forests was done without technical considerations for social, economic and ecological implications.

In many cases, no boundary plans were made, while Gazette and other legal notices were not published, as required by the law.

Some of the forest excisions the commission held to be illegal or irregular were those effected after the Presidential ban on allocation of public land, in 1999.

Others were those without boundary plans; without Gazette notices; agreed after the passing of the Environmental Management and Co-ordination Act of 1999; all those which have been challenged in court; all excisions meant for the expansion of Government institutions then allocated to private developers; and all mutual exchanges of forestland still waiting to be regularised.

In all, 733,088 acres of Kenya's forest land that has been irregularly or illegally excised should be handed back to the Forest Department.

The land to be taken back is spread nationwide with large chunks in three provinces – Rift Valley, Central and Western.

In Rift Valley, the forest land is in Tinet, Ndoinet, Saino and Kaptagich – where the Ogieks should have gone. Others include Sururu, Likia, Teret, Sigotik, Nesseuit, Ngongogeri, Marioshoni, Elburgon/Kapsite, Baraget, Kapita-Molo, Kibunja settlements schemes in Nakuru District. In Koibatek District is Muchongoi Settlement Fund Trustees schemes.

The land in Central Province includes Mikaro and Geta (4,340 hectares) in Aberdare forest of Nyandarua District; and, Gathuru, Hombe, Magutu and Ndathi forests in Nyeri District, including Uaso Narok, in Marmanet, in Laikipa District. In Western province there is Chepyuk settlement schemes in Mt Elgon District; and Turbo and Mautuma in Lugari District.

A number of proposed forest excisions have been challenged in court. They include those in South Western Mau forest; Eastern Mau forest; Londian forest; Mt Kenya East forest; Marmanet forest; Kapsaret forest; Nabkoi forest; Nakuru, Tinderet, and South Nandi forests.

Government bodies such as KWS, Prisons, the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, the Meteorological Department and the Kenya Science Teachers College irregularly acquired excess land from forests, which was later fraudulently allocated to private developers, the report says.