When the Land Portal was founded in 2014, we were part of conferences that spent vast sums of money bringing hundreds of people together to discuss land-related subjects. Yet the powerful speeches that were made, the insightful presentations and the moments of epiphany were largely getting stuck in the conference venue.
The Opportunity: A clear gap in standards for the land sector
Early this year, the Arab region saw a series of webinars and meetings about the status of land-related information and data.
Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki has called on the national government to complete the land adjudication process and issue title deeds before initiating the process of replacing the late chief of Kamaindi Location who was killed way back in 2019 over land related issues.
The Agriculture Development Corporation (ADC) is involved in a scuffle with residents of Kaskini, Kilifi County.
A report by the Nation on Monday, June 14 stated that the government parastatal is claiming ownership of 900 Acres which the residents state to have been given to them by the government in 2006.
The dispute began in 2014, when ADC laid claim to the land which had been occupied by locals for decades.
The government has been paying billions of shillings in compensation for its own land in questionable payouts by the National Lands Commission.
The compensation, which involves the acquisition of land for public utilities, is allegedly a cash cow for well-connected individuals who fleece taxpayers.
Two years ago, the government spent Sh1.5 billion of taxpayers’ money to acquire the Ruaraka land that later turned out to belong to the public.
The State is set to roll out a value index to make Kenya’s land market transparent and cut wasteful public project spending due to speculative activity that drives up costs, the World Bank has said.
The long-awaited index is also expected to boost own-source revenue collection by counties from land property.
Kenya currently lacks standardised land value information—a loophole that has been exploited by cartels over the years to entrench fraud and exploitation in property prices.
Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has asked the National Land Commission to assist in repossessing land allocated illegally to senior civil servants.
Oparanya said that prime plots were allocated to former and current civil servants, politicians and influential businessmen who are demanding compensation for the land.
"We are battling cases where senior public officers allocated plots fraudulently are demanding compensation. This is an area where we require NLC's intervention because the plots are lying idle," Governor Oparanya said.
A court has dismissed case filed by loss-making East African Portland Cement Company challenging recommendations of the Ndung'u Land Commission Report on inquiry into the illegal and irregular allocation of public land.
In the report released 17 years ago, the Commission recommended revocation of titles allocated to the cement maker for 22 land parcels in Machakos and Kajiado counties.
A three-judge bench has begun hearing a petition in which the Ogiek community has sued the government for evicting them from Mt Elgon Forest.
The Ogiek community living in Chepkitale in Mt Elgon Forest says the government erred in evicting them from the land and gazetting it as a national game reserve.
Community members say they have occupied the land since 1932 after colonialists chased them away from their farms in Trans Nzoia.
Their case is being heard by judges Boaz Olao, Stephen Kibunja and Nelly Matheka.