LAND GRABBING IN WAJIR- A FEAST TO BE ADDRESSED

Poverty, misunderstanding of laws, corruption, demand and devolution, influx of population main elements causing land squabbling

Land is an important natural resource, economically, socially and politically yet a finite resource requiring sustainable utilization. Land remains a contentious and problematic issue in Kenya, particularly land held in areas predominantly perceived as the traditional home of a community.

 It is a vital resource to rural communities in Kenya as it is the source of their livelihoods. Kenya has an area of approximately 582,646 sq. km, 97.8% of which is land. Only 20% of the land is arable while the rest is mainly arid and semi-arid land. The arable land, is occupied by 75% of the country’s population meaning that only a small percentage is available for productive use.

In 2004, the Ndung’u Report laid bare the extent of land grabbing in the country.

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The precedence was set by the colonial government when it enacted the Forfeiture of Lands Act, 1955. This was meant to punish freedom fighters whose land was taken away by the government Land scarcity continues to create conflicts among individuals, communities and other entities in the struggle to secure their livelihoods. This is in spite of the fact that tenure security guarantees access to and use of land in order to derive food, shelter, water, grazing and other activities.

 Land grabbing is becoming a biggest threat in peace and security with Informal mechanisms are still used from the inheritance of ownership to dispute resolution.

The community is not fully educated about their rights to land and the processes involved. This has led to continued perceptions of land injustice. Title deeds are yet to be issued and many areas around Kenya remain contentious and ripe for land dispute.

The New Constitution in 2010 enhanced previous land reform efforts by establishing a legal framework for the administration, use, and management of land in Kenya Chapter Five Article 60,61,62,63,64,65,67 and 68 clearly explains. Many laws were enacted by the parliament of Kenya some of the laws include; The Land Act 2012, The Land Registration Act 2012, The National Land Commission Act 2012 and Community Land Act of 2016.

As globalization, rural urban migration, population takes over our daily activities, land grabbing is another bottleneck that ravaging residents of Wajir, a trauma if not addressed will bring a disaster of humanity-  after the new born of devolution the cost of land upsurge it become another source of daily lives – people feasting on the land as if they there is no legislation in place, they never reconsider the impacts will have in the future- its untouched menace virgin –

Wajir residents are suffering following collusion between land grabbers and unscrupulous land dealers There have been cases of invasions from private developers leading to protracted conflicts, hatred amongst community living nearby.

The chief remains main alleged contribute of land grabbing irregular allocation of public land ,no doubt everywhere you go especially the outskirt, four miles of the Town no space left, with rise of cartel , brokers who are standby in land deals - our indigenous tress were uprooted in the favour land expansion – there is environmental degradation across the County, a disaster is looming
The forcible takeover of land is more complex and elaborate than just gangs marching into unoccupied land and hiving it off that need to be addressed
There is a shortage of grazing land particularly for the pastoral communities Livestock is a crucial source of financial capital for the rural poor. The arid and semi-arid lands are home to nearly 70% of the national herd with an estimated value of Kenya shillings 70 billion. For many, it is the only form of savings available. Therefore, its efficient production and marketing is essential for sustaining pastoral livelihoods. Today no ample land is left for our main source of dependency that is our livestock they have no peaceful land to graze- the grazing land were congested. The mushrooming of settlements is a nightmare that brings too much pollution and fights between local who are living together.

With political interest main catapult of this settlements that create expansion of land, thus maimed the productivity of the soil- with influx of farms is another way of land grabbing phenomena that may not be suspected, In the pretext of doing farming resident fence a whole hundred hectares of land – a policy must be in place to minimized the land waste.

 The phenomenon of land grabbing has assumed a new face that in the name of developing huge land is under threat there are wealthy individuals who take advantage of grabbing land by fencing thousands of hectare – with no consent from the people living there what they do is to solicit or agree with area chief to have the land, this piece of land is mostly unutilized- corruption plays bigger role in land grabbing on Wajir.

Consequently, the brunt of land grabbing is felt for example fighting between the alleged land owner and the other versus third party thus leading to bloodshed, many occasion families, communities take laws on their hand once the dispute get out of consensus – land squabbling forced people to be jailed – it’s a wound need to be addressed.

The fight against land grabbing, therefore, is at the interface of climate change, food security, rights of indigenous communities, social and environmental justice.

With influx of population the land will be more of a commodity that will create disharmony, loopholes, conflict, climate change related impacts -  no doubt global warming is rising in our County why with urge of land people will deforested the land – our environment in peril. It’s now or never to execute a proper way of mitigating the incoming problems.

From political interventions, government and concern bodies to commit in ensuring sanity in land use and generally the public to follow the laws on land management so that we have a free environment pollution and say to no unscrupulous. – the Wajir land tribunal must do a massive civic education programme on all matters related land.

Today, land grabbing has taken a ‘global’ face fueled by the need to amass food and energy resources particularly by foreign nations mainly after the financial and food crisis in 2008. Foreign public and private entities are now concluding agreements with countries, mostly developing ones, for the control of large surfaces of land. Kenya has not been left behind. Global land grabbing is manifesting itself in Kenya in various forms- in particularly Wajir County is more of a tick bomb that ready to explode it’s a wake call for all stakeholders to fastrack a solution to this.

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