A heavy land agenda awaits CS Alice Wahome’s action in 2024

When she reported to the Lands ministry at Ardhi House in October last year, Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome walked around. Done occasionally, this style would acquaint her with what happens at the precincts of this humbling building. It disrupts the not-so-well-intentioned actors.

Indeed, her occasional easy visits to sections at the ministry headquarters would be a boon. It would demystify many things. The default practice is to be chauffeured to the basement, ushered into the lift and quickly delivered to the seat of power on 12th floor, which can be alienating.

Ms Wahome leads a big and busy ministry. She has to steer it firmly. She’s responsible for the vexing housing programme, which will occupy lots of her time. However, she mustn’t allow pressure from housing to deny her time for the land agenda, which is huge, and impacts everyone.

Tenure security provides the foundation for major national projects, including housing. Several land issues beg attention. A primary one is the digitisation initiative. The intention was to roll this out to the rest of the country once Nairobi was done. Ms Wahome must put her thumps on this and ensure that user concerns are fully resolved before national rollout.

Being a lawyer, she will need to find out the status of the conversion initiative, aimed at converting old titles to the Land Registration Act 2012. This is a prerequisite for uploading documents onto the digital Ardhisasa platform. Its pace will therefore determine the pace of rolling out the digital system countrywide.

The Cabinet Secretary will also be responsible for actualising the Kenya Kwanza aspiration of purchasing private land for the settlement of persons. Coast Kenya, expected to be a major beneficiary in this, will be eagerly waiting.

Given that high-octane politics will begin revving up in the third year of the current government’s tenure, 2024 will be a most defining year on this matter. She’s also expected to handle the controversial matter of the transfer of the valuation role for land acquired for public projects from the land commission to her docket.

It’s, however, self-serving for government, the beneficiary of the land to be acquired, to seek to undertake its valuation as well. On this, and the proposed increase on costs of services offered by her ministry, Ms Wahome should expect a public beating.

The review of the 2009 National Land Policy, along with the implementation of the Community Land Act which is key to enhancing tenure security in Kenya’s North, ought to be fast-tracked. Furthermore, the implementation of the Sectional Properties Act, which is pivotal to vertical development and the housing agenda, will need good support.

The enactment of a Survey Bill to repeal the outdated Survey Act of 1961, critical to the implementation of the new laws and titling in general, remains outstanding. The Cabinet Secretary will also need to work closely with the Land Commission, the DCI and the EACC to banish the cartels responsible for invading and irregularly processing ownership documents to private property.

The writer is a consultant on land governance. Ibrahim Mwathane ([email protected])