Bill on humane evictions set for debate in House

• The Evictions and Resettlement Procedures Bill 2012, fronted by Kisumu Town East MP Shakeel Shabbir, will compel property owners to finance evictees, allowing them to adjust to the new environment.
• Before undertaking forced eviction, a landowner would consult affected households, seek a court order, and issue an eviction notice of at least three months. Apart from providing compensation, it will be the land owners’ responsibility to conduct an environmental, social, and economic impact assessment to ensure that the alternative settlement is available.
• But even as Mr Shabbir prepares to lobby for support of the Bill in Parliament, land experts have criticised some of its provisions for overlooking the sanctity of title deeds. Experts interviewed by the Business Daily said that the Bill over-protects people who encroach onto private land, adding that it could fuel invasion of private land as people look for easy compensation from owners.
• This protection, the Bill says, will not be available to people who habitually occupy land for speculative purposes or those who had benefitted from previous government compensation schemes but sold their land to third parties.
• Publication of the Bill comes hot on the heels of a national outcry that greeted the loss of millions of shillings worth of property as government agencies forcibly evicted people from land reserved for roads and airport expansion. Under the lengthy procedure outlined in the Bill for forced eviction, a land owner armed with a court order still has to serve affected people a 21-day notice.

Land owners will now compensate and resettle people who encroach on their property if Parliament approves a law that seeks to change the mode of evictions.
The Evictions and Resettlement Procedures Bill 2012, fronted by Kisumu Town East MP Shakeel Shabbir, will compel property owners to finance evictees, allowing them to adjust to the new environment.

“This Act applies in respect of all land and all occupiers of land throughout Kenya,” the Bill reads in part. “A person who forcibly evicts without Court order commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding Sh1 million or imprisonment for a term of two years, or both.”

Before undertaking forced eviction, a landowner would consult affected households, seek a court order, and issue an eviction notice of at least three months.

Apart from providing compensation, it will be the land owners’ responsibility to conduct an environmental, social, and economic impact assessment to ensure that the alternative settlement is available.

“No order for eviction shall be granted when it is clear to the court that it would render affected persons homeless.” The proposed Act covers all persons occupying land including squatters and unlawful occupiers of private lands.

But even as Mr Shabbir prepares to lobby for support of the Bill in Parliament, land experts have criticised some of its provisions for overlooking the sanctity of title deeds.

Experts interviewed by the Business Daily said that the Bill over-protects people who encroach onto private land, adding that it could fuel invasion of private land as people look for easy compensation from owners. “The spirit of this Bill is good as it seeks to end brutality with which people have been evicted in the past,” said Mr Ibrahim Mwathane, the chairman of the Land Development and Governance Institute. “When it comes to legislation, it is wrong to defend the rights of squatters by punishing land owners.”

Speculative purposes

This protection, the Bill says, will not be available to people who habitually occupy land for speculative purposes or those who had benefitted from previous government compensation schemes but sold their land to third parties.

Human rights groups said that mass evictions are usually carried out by government agencies or private developers claiming ownership of land on which settlements stand.

Publication of the Bill comes hot on the heels of a national outcry that greeted the loss of millions of shillings worth of property as government agencies forcibly evicted people from land reserved for roads and airport expansion. Under the lengthy procedure outlined in the Bill for forced eviction, a land owner armed with a court order still has to serve affected people a 21-day notice.

“Any person proposing to forcefully evict an unlawful occupier shall provide opportunity to the parties to seek legal redress where there is a stalemate or dispute,” the Bill says.

All evictions, the Bill proposes, can only take place in the presence of country government officials but not during bad weather, festivals or religious holidays, prior to elections, at night, or during national examinations.

Human rights groups have been pushing for a legal framework to protect evictees.

“Although the Government has made numerous efforts to find effective legal and policy solutions to evictions, a comprehensive approach is now called for, especially in view of the new Constitution,” said Odindo Opiata, executive director of Hakijamii Economic and Social Rights Centre.