The media recently reported flare ups of violence in Laikipia County. There are several underlying issues that the events raise that deserve in-depth attention.
The violence started following the invasion of ranches by pastoralists. Ranches by definition are large tracts of land, running into at hundreds of acres and set aside for livestock grazing and other pastoral activities.
The land, even if titled is characterised by being put to grazing and conservation activities.
One of the contestations over these lands has been ownership and the rights of local communities. While originally designed as a mechanism for owning and managing community land, in practice group ranches contrary to serving their purpose led to feeling of disenfranchisement.
This was the rationale for the determination that the country needed a comprehensive law to govern community land.
If one goes back to the Laikipia skirmishes, there are several explanations for the flare ups. Some will argue that it is purely a security problem and one that should be dealt with as such.
In fact, the government’s response took this angle. Others may seek to contextualise it in the realm of politics.However, on deeper reflection it is evident that the land angle forms a key plank of the underlying issue.
Without delving into the debate about who has or does not have rights to the group ranches, it is important to underscore that peaceful coexistence within the region requires that the legal framework governing group ranches transition as contemplated under the Community Land Act.
What does that transition require? First it is not about ignoring existing property rights. Anybody advocating for entering into people’s land and trying to occupy them is treading on grounds that disregard the rule of law and promotes anarchy. Such an approach is inimical to the kind of society that Kenya is and is committed to promoting.Secondly, to ignore the reality that there have been past problems with group ranches is to be unhelpful to challenges facing the land sector.
What is required to find mechanisms for addressing grievances that there may be in a systematic and objective manner. The Community Land Act provides the country with the template for starting this necessary journey.However, since the passage of the law, the process of its roll out has been met with huge silence. The law on its own cannot and will not solve the problems around group ranches. Practical measures require to be taken to actualise the requirements of that law.As opposed to only looking at the security angle, and blaming drought for the violence, it is important that additional measures be taken to roll out the implementation process.
The process of identifying communities, registering them, documenting land which can be subject of community land and forming the required community institutions is urgent.
Through such an approach local communities can start being involved in the journey of giving them a voice in owning and managing their land.
This process will require determining which land is private and which ones are communal hence falling within the purview of the community land legislation.
With such an approach, the complaints that local communities have about their land being taken by private entrepreneurs as opposed to being sites of violence can be looked at in a sober, systematic manner and solutions explored.We have to accept that land is emotive. The land question has been with the country for long. Time is ripe for resolving the thorny issues within the land sector.
This is the lesson that we have to learn from the Laikipia crisis. If we fail to do so, we will continue with the unfortunate practice of legislating without intending to resolve issues.
To do so will lead us down a dangerous path, a path that elections can only exacerbate. This is not the promise of the Constitution.
With the place that land occupies in the country’s governance and development landscape, we owe it to ourselves and succeeding generations to resolve such crisis honestly and objectively.
A sign post showing a land for sale. Photo courtesy