Concerns over slow pace of community land registration in Kenya

The journey towards ensuring pastoral communities having legal ownership of their land has been long and winding.

Nearly a decade after Parliament passed regulations to guide the implementation of the Community Land Act (2016), fewer than 60 of the over 600 communities with rightful claims have successfully obtained legal titles to their land.

Derrick Mahandia, a Senior Programmes officer with Namati, which supports communities to get title deeds for community land, says the process is usually lengthy and requires resources to meet the required legal processes.

"The registration of community land has been quite slow for a number of reasons. One is a lack of interest by the government in the registration of these lands; community land has not been a priority for any government that has been in power since the passage of the new constitution.

There have been some commitments, but we have not seen any of those translate into tangible action," he tells The Eastleigh Voice.

Secondly, a lack of awareness exists within the affected communities, as many still do not even know that there is a law that requires them to get title deeds for their land.

"They therefore need to be sensitised that this law exists and the process involved," he adds.

For some communities, the process can prove to be quite expensive as it requires all members to come together and express interest in having the land registered.



They also need to establish bylaws to govern the land, and elect representatives, otherwise referred to as Community Land Management Committees (CLMCs), to represent their interests, all of which calls for hiring legal support.

"Others still are located in vast regions, just getting them together in one place to go through the process and begin the registration process can be quite expensive," adds MMahandia.

Under the new constitution, however, land ownership is categorised into public, community and private. The law, however, could not be applied until 2016, when the Community Land Act's regulations were gazetted, creating the process through which communities can own land legally.

Today, community land is owned communally by members of a community as opposed to private land, where an individual gets his or her own title deed. The title deed for a community land is one and is owned by all.

In Kenya, land is mainly owned communally in pastoral communities within about 24 counties, the rest either belongs to the state (public) or is owned by individuals.

Lukuruki Conservancy in Laikipia County is one of the few that have registered their land and are reaping benefits from it.

Robert Sairi Nantiri, a senior committee member, says members have been able to transform sections of the vast land that shares borders with Isiolo and Samburu Counties into an income-generating venture that supports their basic needs, including their children's education, health and water provision.

Before the land was registered, Nantiri says it existed as a group ranch that was claimed even by outsiders (including former provincial administrators) who managed to acquire individual titles before the community came together to protect it and stop further grabbing.



Afraid of losing the land portion by portion, the community consulted with partners and successfully went through the entire registration process.

"We had scattered all over and were not even aware of the rights we had over our land, but later on, we united, registered about 60,000 hectares, installed boundaries and got an investor to build an eco-lodge inside it. We are still striving to recover what was stolen back then," he adds.

The community further decided to conserve the sand available in the property to avoid altering water tables, as they rely on boreholes for water.

Today, the eco-lodge pays for their children's bursaries and has built a dispensary for the community. Recent proceeds from carbon credit investment have also helped build a school in the area and teachers and medical personnel's houses, complement their bursaries fund, repair connecting routes and dig boreholes as 60 percent of the income from the project is set aside for community projects, as the rest go to rangeland conservation and operations.

"We could travel over 50km to access the nearest hospital; our children would study under trees for lack of nearby schools, but we are now better. We only need medical staff deployed to the dispensary and teachers from the Teachers Service Commission because those we have employed include some who are not really qualified," he says.

The community has preferred owning the vast land communally since it's an arid area where the soil can hardly sustain agriculture.

"Also, we felt that remaining united would be our source of strength. We have a register of rightful members and are proud of the far we have come," he says.

Mr Mahandia explains that communities that have no legal ownership of their land are at risk of facing land encroachment and grabbing.

"Also, in the event of compulsory acquisition, communities without title deeds are not able to show proof of ownership and might not be adequately compensated," he adds.



At the same time, land being an economic resource means that without a title deed, a community may lose out on higher compensation for their land in the event that an investor has kicked off a project at the property and may eventually lose it altogether.

"As Namati, we have been supporting communities to go through this process so they can be able to get secure title deeds that will protect their rights and help them get the full value of their land," he says.

On her part, Jane Loyelei*, a woman from Kapese in Turkana county, said the community living around in Turkana county is now better placed to demand their rights.

She explains that when oil exploration began years ago, the community had not surveyed and titled the land and therefore, had no say in what the investors did on the land, which led to them losing out on what would have been adequate compensation.

Today, however, with the Act in place and after civic education on their rights, several communities have since registered their lands, ready to gain from the upcoming investors.

"We now know the rights we have to our land and how to protect it. We have a register, an inventory of the land's activities, including the investor duration and a constitution to guide how we govern and develop it. Today, we are involved in everything that happens on the land. Our title deed is our bargaining power, now they have to include us in every process," she says.



On his part, James Lengojin, the chairman of Ngirimin Community land in Samburu County, says the Act helped his community register for a title deed that gave them legal mandate on its use.

"Our area is a pastoral area where we depend on livestock keeping and cattle, goats and camels grazing, so we subdivided it into grazing blocks. We preserved some sections for use in the dry seasons and others for the wet season, which has really helped us reduce the impact of dry weather on our main source of livelihood, leading to less conflict. The community appreciates it, and the land has regained its potential. We really enjoy managing the land this way," he tells The Eastleigh Voice.

Mr Paul Chepsoi, the Chairman of the Community Land Owners Alliance of Kenya, which brings together CLMCs from around 14 counties across the pastoral counties spanning all the way from Kajiado, Narok, to Mandera and Wajir, advises his members to be careful with hasty subdivision of communally owned land.

According to him, challenges emerge when people understand the value of the title deed and how it can benefit them through investors such as those coming to buy carbon credits.

"Some community members, for example, in Kajiado and Narok, have resolved to subdivide the original community land to individual ownership. Although the law does not bar people from doing that, the original intention for which the land was communal is different from when the land is individually owned. For example, in Narok, they have not registered their community land; they are still in group ranches, but have gone on to do the subdivision for individual titles. This means they have lost the right to communal land use of the land, where interests go beyond individuals," he notes.

Another challenge he has observed is attempts by some conservancies to trade off community lands to carbon credit investors, without the involvement of the community, thereby disenfranchising them from earning their true compensation.