The 2010 constitution prevents foreigners from owning land in Kenya and also reduces the period for which they can lease it.
But, implementing these provisions is complicated by the ambiguity of the law and deliberate moves by politicians and those with huge swathes of land to frustrate the process.
Unlike Zimbabwe where the president opted to ‘yank’ the land from foreigners, more than 50 years after independence for Kenya, a significant amount of prime land is still in foreign hands.
The National Land Commission (NLC) is between a rock and a hard place in its attempts to regularise land ownership by demanding that all foreign landowners align their leases with the provisions of the Constitution.
Among those who own the biggest pieces of land in Kenya is conservationist extraordinaire Kuki Gallman who has been in Kenya since the early seventies, Ian Craig and Daniel Wildenstein among others.
At 25,000 acres, Chololo Ranch in Laikipia is owned by Sammy Jessel one of the sons of John Jessel. His brother, Martin Jessel, owns another ranch and in total the Jessel’s own four ranches with Chololo being the largest.
Ole Naisho Ranch measuring 30,000 acres is owned by Kenyan-born Jeremy Block who is the group chairman of Dormans coffee.
Jackie Kenyon owns Mogwooni ranch which is 40,000 acres and breeds cattle and sheep.
Suyian Ranch is 43,000 acres and known for its honey production. The ranch is currently owned and managed by the Powys family whose ties to Laikipia date back to the 1920s.
Lewa Downs is 45,000 acres and probably the most famous in terms of conservation due to the Safaricom Lewa Marathon.
Ian Craig, father to Prince William’s ex-girlfriend Jecca owns Lewa Conservancy. It hit the headlines in March when Prince William jetted into the country to attend Jecca’s wedding.
The land has been in the family since 1918.
Other ranches measuring tens of thousands of acres are Ole Malo Ranch at 50,000 acres and owned by Colin Francombe who was born and raised in Kenya. He lives on the ranch with his wife, Mugie Ranch is 47,000 and owned by the Hahn family.
Lying in the centre of Laikipia County, Mpala Ranch –measures 49,000 acres and was purchased by Sam Small in 1952 and bequeathed to his brother George in 1969. It has the Mpala Research/Centre Foundation and Mpala Farm.
Segera Ranch measures 50,000 acres and is owned by Jochen Zeitz, a ‘former CEO of PUMA’. He first came to Kenya in 1989 and now spends most of his time there after his retirement from Puma in 2011. The German national’s property is said to be three times the size of Manhattan.
The other big land owner is Count Ancelotto whose name is all over the Loisaba conservancy. Measuring 61,000 acres, it was once leased to three white Kenyans, Peter Sylvester, Tom Sylvester and Giles Davies. Loisaba has two permanent rivers.
Ol Jogi Ranch measuring 67,000 acres lies 225km out of Nairobi, just north of Nanyuki. It provides a Rhino Sanctuary and is a famous getaway for the super-rich. It was owned by renowned French billionaire art dealer Daniel Wildenstein before he died in 2001 leaving the property to his son Guy Wildenstein. The elder Wildenstein acquired the land in 1977 and built a successful art collection company and was at some point the world’s richest art dealer.
The ranch was the setting for the award-winning film Out of Africa, and has been used to film numerous TV commercials for multinationals like Pepsi and Coca-Cola.
The other big landowner is Fauna & Flora International (FFI), a U.K.-based conservation organisation which owns the 92,000 acres Ol-Pejeta Ranch. The ranch between Mt Kenya and the Aberdare Ranges was previously owned by Lord Delamere and his partner Marcus Wickham Byanton. It has over the years changed ownership several times from a French aristocratic family to a Saudi billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi among others.
The 73-year-old Italian Baroness Kuki owns the Ol Ari Nyiro Ranch which measures 100,000 acres. The property is also known as Laikipia Ranch. She acquired it in 1974 and transformed it into a wildlife sanctuary ten years later.
At one time, the ranch used to have a lot of wildlife including the endangered black rhino and the rare beautiful Grevy Zebra.
So now you know who really owns Kenya.