Land lease caps to address ownership and use

This concept is expected to be implemented through a sessional paper on land in Kenya that has been published by the government and will be gazetted later this month.

“What the paper seeks to do is to regulate holding of land to encourage usage of held land otherwise owners will pay high taxes,” said Odenda Lumumba, the national coordinator of the Kenya Land Alliance.

Land economists said the proposal is “one of the clearest ways forward” to addressing land ownership and usage in Kenya.

“What Kenya has done is just to conform to the international trends that limit land leases to 99 years and reversing the old mistakes. It ensures foreigners do not own land for more than 99 years unless that land is used for the good of the people,” said Mr Lumumba.

Urban areas

The draft provides that until communities are identified and their title is registered, community land shall be held by the National Lands Commission on behalf of the communities.

The draft constitution has also proposed the establishment of a housing development fund to enable Kenyans gain access to more and better housing.

The draft has promised “development and review” of a national housing policy with a view to increasing, regulating and maintaining the national housing stock.

Housing especially in the urban areas is a major problem because of the lack of adequate supply of housing units which has raised prices beyond the reach of the middle income earners, who apparently are in the critical need of houses.

Kenya is estimated to have housing supply shortage of 150,000 units every year, says the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.