ORENGO HAS FAILED COASTARIANS ON LAND

By Njuguna Mutonya and Eugene Omilo

In the history of Kenya , never has any one single appointment to the cabinet elicited so much hope and excitement in the Coast as when James Aggrey Orengo was appointed to the lands docket .

Allover the province , there were wild ululations as his name was called out at the formation of the Grand Coalition government and there was general acceptance that the land juggernaut which is the alpha and omega of all political crises in the region would finally be resolved .

After all , James Orengo brought the right pedigree to a ministry shrouded in corruption and lethargy which had been bred to a fine Mafia like corporation during the dirty years of Moi’s rule .

If ever there would be anyone who could tackle the juggernaut , James Orengo – straight from the trenches of dislodging Moi from power with his fine pronouncements and radical bearing – this was the man !

Four years down the line , the feelings of hope have dissipated , the land cartels are back in full operation and strengthened and the title deed –yes that sacred paper which Coastal residents think is the final resolution to their land woes is as elusive as ever .

Night evictions have resumed in earnest , hiving off of public properties by people in power has re-emerged energized and blatant  and ministerial directives to repossess public lands stolen in the past have remained just that and transactions are being done on the same .

The Ministry of Lands officials in the regions have continued with their corrupt practices facilitating the continued emasculation of the citizens rights through bribery so brazen that the commitment of the team at Ardhi House is now publicly questioned .

One senior official of the Mombasa land office was so deeply enshackled by the land cartels that they kept him on a short leash of drunken merry making and sexual orgies that he forgot he had an office only reporting there grogilly to sign away pieces of land for his clients who would open yet another bottle of whiskey for him .

His fate is unclear today !

While the Minister can easily explain his achievements as having passed the crucial National Land Policy , the man on the ground has yet to feel the impact of the Ministry’s actions as all the main land issues remain unresolved ten years after the NARC Revolution that sowed so much hope amongst Kenyans . 

 

The politics of the Coast Province revolve around the issue of land and the present proliferation of fringe groups in the Coast calling for secession and threatening the security order of the region is seen as a direct reflection of the governments failure to address the issue .

Today we have the highly visible Mombasa Republican Council (MRC) which has been causing headaches to the security apparatus because of its apparent popularity amongst rural indigenous coastal and the recently disclosed Nyuki Movement for Independence .

Khelef Khalifa of Muslims for Human Rights (Muhuri) says the biggest obstacle to addressing the land issue is that the ‘distructive forces’ are still in control of the whole system.

He says there is no goodwill in fighting land grabbers, especially those with occupying prime areas like beach plots.

“Why is he shying away from the Ndung’u Report?” poses Khalifa.

He must go back to the Ndung’u report and reposses grabbed land. We all know that the Kenyatta family took possession of vast stretches of our beach plots together with their sycophants yet they are not indigenous people from the Coast,” he says.

Khalifa points out at certain public utility lands which have been developed by private organizations yet not action has been taken saying such are the issues the minister should go for.

He also disputes the issue of absentee landlords terming it an outright lie.

“There are big wigs of former regimes some of whom are still in leadership positions who used to bequeath themselves land so as to access loans from banks,” he says.

“Some of them cannot come out publicly to declare possession of such land because they know they wrongfully acquired t. These are the title deeds Orengo should revoke and see to it that such Land is given to the rightful owners.

A Kilifi based land surveyor and political activist Mr. Joe Tete says though most residents yearn to get title deeds for their plots, they later on realize that the documents do not give them outright ownership rights.

“The truth is that these documents cannot be of any help to owners as they can neither be used as security in courts or even for purposes of property transfer,” he says.

According to him, the bureaucracy in the lands ministry is still a problem which Orengo has failed to address.

Tete says the allocation of plots in settlement schemes is riddled with a lot of corruption and people in positions of authority are rushing to award themselves plots meant for the landless.

Mr. Frank Elizabeth of Kisauni Community Development Initiative says the implementation of the National Land Policy should be taken seriously by Parliament.

He says it is the responsibility of Orengo to push Parliament to formulate appropriate laws to enable the implementation of the policy which was formed through public participation.

The policy, amongst other factors, recommends the inclusion of the National Land Policy in the Constitution, the formation of the Truth and Justice Commission (both of which have been done) and the formation of the National Land Commission (yet to be formed). 

He says the appointees of the National Land Commission should be people of integrity who will approach the land problems without the worry of going against vested interests or those of their cronies.  

CIPK Organizing secretary Sheikh Mohamed Khalifa says unless top officials at the Lands ministry are transferred or removed, tackling the land problem might be an uphill task because majority of them are beneficiaries of grabbed land.

He also blames the government for failure to implement the Ndung’u report which he says is the ultimate solution to land woes.

He says the Judiciary should use its authority to revoke title deeds of grabbed public land and return the land back to the government for redistribution to the landless.

He also calls on the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission to be more courageous to take culprits of land grabbing head on.