The Draft National Land Policy: A Step Towards Land Reforms

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2006

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From p. 3: "Kenyans’ desire and demand for land reform did not materialize at independence when the independence and post-independence regimes re-entrenched and continued with colonial land policies, laws and administrative structure. Thus, the unresolved land reform issues captured in the Constitution of Kenya Review Commission, and the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Land Law System of Kenya (‘Njonjo Commission’) reports was picked up and addressed in the Draft National Land Policy (DNLP) in Paragraphs 51 - 99. In 50 specific paragraphs and others littered elsewhere in the DNLP, issues broadly addressed are on land tenure reform – which is the establishment of secure and formalized property rights in land for all Kenyans and land redistribution – which is about access to land by the landless and disadvantaged groups. Despite land reform issues being politically sensitive, the DNLP gives a concise narrative of some of the key land tenure and land policy issues by asserting that Kenya shall have broadly three land tenure regimes i.e. private, community and public. However, the DNLP recognizing that property rights in land is a social relation, tries to define what an individual, a community and the state can do and cannot do with land if Kenya is to attain sustainable land use and development. Since making policy recommendations about land ownership is not a technical matter the public has been called upon to read, debate and contribute to the finalization of the national land policy."

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public policy, land tenure and use, governance and politics, policy reform

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