Since the passage of the new constitution, I have been eagerly waiting for our land rights on the Coastal strip to be officially recognized. Out of all the laws passed in Kenya, the new Constitution and 2009 National Land Policy finally started chipping at the block of historical injustices faced at the Coast where all land was formerly considered as Government Land. It was therefore a great honor that I was a witness to the monumental time in the history of Kenya when the Ministry of Land finalized the Community Land Rights Recognition Model (CLRR) on Friday Sep 16th which will make great headway to address the past and ongoing injustices against the land rights of the indigenous Lamu community. The model was developed by the Land Reform and Transformation Unit (LRTU) under the Ministry of Lands, through the Kenya SECURE project.
Held in Diani, the ceremony was attended by heads of departments from the Ministry of Land, and local leaders. To my great surprise, there was little if any media present to cover the event. While all week the media was following behind politicians uttering rhetoric of land reforms all around the Coast, they failed to cover the one event that emphasized on action rather than talk. But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised as Hon James Orengo himself did not preside over the event as was expected. Instead he had a pre-written speech which was read by Hon. Bifwoli. One of the statements in the speech gave a clear indication as to why the political rallies in other parts of the Coast took precedence over the ceremony, and why some politicians did not attend the ceremony. With the land being in the hands of the community instead of the Government and politically elite, “for the first time in Kenya, the CLRR offers opportunity to take politics out of land administration,” stated the Assistant Minister. I therefore feel it is my duty as a non-partisan to write on what transpired.
Prior to attending the workshop, I had been filled with several rumours on what the CLRR model is all about. Some called it “block title”, some said it is another form of group ranches, others just developed all sorts of false accusations due to suspicion over the project being funded by USAID. But all fears were allayed as I confirmed that the CLRR was neither of the allegations above.
Contrary to claims that the CLRR is a form of land tenure whereby the land will be titled under the names of a few individuals, the CLRR model is rather a process in which to define and determine a communal land tenure framework, and develop an administering body for community lands. Unlike Group ranches Trust where the community which has registered the land can sell their entire ranch and mortgage it, the community land holding entity is only an administrator of the land who cannot independently transfer and sell the land. The entity, yet to be defined, would therefore work more like a devolved Ministry of Lands whereby each community has its own local representatives to determine land use and transfer based on their unique customary tenure practices.
The model merges both community and individual tenure such that the right of individual land ownership is maintained, while the recognition of communally owned resources is also ensured. This was exemplified by the announcement by the Senior Warden of KWS Lamu at the meeting that the model would allow for negotiations between residents of Kiwayu Island and KWS to finally legally own the land they live in and be allowed to transact under a form of tenure legally equivalent to the colonial-style title deed. Community members would therefore have claim to not only the land they currently live and farm in, but also the land that they have historical claims to that they don’t utilize. This allows for the community to plan for development, population growth and communal natural resource utilization. By recording land use and not areas of settlement, two communities could therefore lay claim to the same piece of land such as pastoralists who share grazing areas. This is contrary to the previous settlement schemes whereby residents in Lamu have been considered squatters and thereby have rights to only the land they currently inhabit or farm in.
The CLRR would also curtail external investors from grabbing biologically sensitive areas and land intended for public usage as they will now have to go through the land holding entity so as to negotiate with the individual owner rather than dealing only with the Provincial Administration or Commissioner of Lands who is not aware of the un-titled land owners. This perhaps explains why the Lamu port is being rushed prior to the creation of the community land act and why the launching of the CLLR model has been delayed by over a year.
While this model is only a pilot project for select villages in Lamu East, lessons learned from its implementation will make contributions towards the future legislation. While a go-ahead was given to initiate to pilot the model in the Boni-Dodori Corridor, the Minister requested the preparation of a Cabinet Memo to seek approval to immediately convert the land that was formerly Government land in Lamu that has not been alienated, into community land to allow for implementation of the model in other pilot villages surrounding the Kiunga Marine National Reserve. The implementation of the model would mean that a significant amount of historical land injustices would be addressed in Lamu East and in context of the Lamu port, the condition for community negotiation will pave way for community members to benefit from the development.
As a Lamu resident who has long been on the forefront of advocating for land rights in Lamu, I am proud to be witness to this moment in history and long for the day that this model will bear fruition and my great grandchildren will finally be able to benefit from their lands and natural resources.
Attended by Save Lamu Chairman, Abubakar El-Amudy (info@savelamu.org)
You can read Remarks of the Honorable James Orengo, Minister for Lands, as delivered by the Assistant Minister HERE>>.