Kenya’s land question, which has stirred up emotions in the General Election campaigns, is part of a wider problem, with ongoing reforms in four East African countries pointing to determined efforts to contain what has become a ticking time bomb.

Land adjudication in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda is set for a major overhaul, heralding massive changes in land ownership that are likely to meet stiff opposition from big landowners, especially foreign investors who may be forced to give up large tracts of land.

But from the outset, a harmonised approach to land adjudication in the region seems unlikely, with Tanzania being categorical that land will not be part of the East African Community integration process, and calling on all investors from the regional bloc wishing to invest there to follow available channels and national laws.

“Land in Tanzania is owned traditionally. And on the other side of the coin, land is government property. So, those in the region who are eyeing Tanzania’s land should forget it,” said Tanzanian East African Co-operation minister Samuel Sitta during the 2011 Heads of State Summit in Bujumbura.

As part of its reforms, Tanzania, will start restricting the size of land that a single large-scale foreign or local investor can hold for agricultural use in a slate of land reforms, while Uganda and Rwanda have over the past two months rolled out regulations set to change the way land is managed and owned.

In Kenya, President Kibaki on February 20 bowed to pressure from civil society and gazetted members of the National Land Commission to oversee land issues in the country, after months of delays. A court order directing him to do so within seven days had expired two weeks ago.

The Commission has been tasked with managing public land on behalf of the national and county governments, recommending a national land policy to the government and advising the government on a comprehensive programme for the registration of land titles throughout the country.

It will also conduct research related to land and the use of natural resources, and make recommendations to appropriate authorities; initiate investigations into present or historical land injustices, and recommend appropriate redress; assess tax on land and premiums on immovable property in any area designated by law; and have oversight responsibilities over land use planning throughout the country.

Land policy changes have in the past triggered opposition especially recent proposals that would see thousands of acres of land held under leases in excess of 99 years revert to the State.

The proposed land policy also seeks to bar non-citizens from having absolute ownership over land, proposing instead that they own land under a leasehold system.

This latter proposal has been met with resistance by a number of Western countries whose citizens hold extensive land interests in sections of the Rift Valley, Central, Eastern and Coast Provinces.

The delay in forming the National Lands Commission has resulted in a hold-up in the renewal of land leases.

This means that property owners are finding it difficult to access finance for investment, and production levels in agriculture could drop as farmers and livestock breeders are unsure about lease renewals. The Commission should have been in place by August 28, 2012.

The Institute of Surveyors of Kenya reckons the country’s land reforms will take at least 10 years to be completed and will cost at least Ksh100 billion ($1.1 billion).

Rwanda is in the process of reviewing its 2005 Land Act which if passed by parliament will grant foreigners leases of up to 49 years.

The leases are subject to renewal depending on the development plan provided by the lessee. This is contrary to the current law where some foreigners including foreign companies have freehold land titles. Until 2004, all land belonged to the government, but citizens could exercise the right of use.

Under the draft law being discussed by the Parliament Departmental Committee on Natural Resources, foreigners may be granted freehold titles if provided for by an international convention that Rwanda is signatory to or under the condition of reciprocity deriving from bilateral agreements.

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It is only in the Special Economic Zones that foreigners can be granted a freehold title. A host of foreign investors have been rushing for land in Kigali’s Special Economic Zone. Some investors from the region are keen to secure this land on freehold.

The condition of reciprocity deriving from bilateral agreements had been included in the land Bill as a contingency to cater for the East African Community protocol on land.

In 2011, the Rwanda government seized approximately 100 hectares of land from an American investor in Bugesera District after he failed to construct a factory as he had promised.

Late last year, the land registry was stuck with some three million unclaimed land title deeds after a year long and costly exercise to map and register all land in the country that ended with the demarcation of 10.4 million plots countrywide.

Tanzania is auditing land allocated to investors to obtain a basis for implementing a proposed land reform that puts a 10,000 hectare ceiling for single investors in agriculture to lease, said Peniel Lyimo, Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s office.

Tanzania has been facing criticism over multinationals grabbing chunks of land at will and, in the process, displacing local communities.

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A source privy to the exercise said that the study to be completed mid March and tabled in parliament in April 2013 would assess land size currently under both foreign and local investors.

Of Tanzania’s 94.5 million hectares, only half — 44 million hectares — is arable land. And according to the National Sample Census for Agriculture of 2002/2003, only 9.1 million hectares is under cultivation.

“Once the study is complete, the state will establish a land databank for the implementation of the proposed reform,” the source said. Of the 1,825 general land disputes reported in 2011, 1,095 involved multinationals said Mr Yefred Myenzi, the executive director of the Tanzanian Land Rights Research and Resources Institute, a non-governmental organisation.

After over 10 years of haggling, Uganda’s Cabinet finally gave the nod to the Lands Ministry to publish a new land policy that aims to hand government controlling rights over land.

The policy approved earlier this month is expected to trigger far-reaching reforms in land ownership. Government’s proposed appropriation of land to itself is meant to help clarify the current uncertainty of land ownership rights in Uganda that has multiple conflicting rights over registered land.

The drafters of the policy state that although land ownership is currently vested in the hands of individuals, it is not clear how citizens can individually or collectively assert their authority over the land.  

Government officials say the new policy will safeguard interests of peasants but there are worries this amendment of the Constitution could encourage a blatant land grabbing, which some government agencies are already agitating for. 

The policy also notes that there is a need to change the old system of ownership since Uganda’s population could shoot up to 40 million by 2015, increasing the number of conflicts over land.

The land problem in the EAC, experts said can be traced back to the colonial era.

In Kenya, the British created three categories of land — crown, community and the private land they settled on. But there is a more worrying trend in the region.

A 2012 report by Grain, an organisation supporting small farmers, showed foreign governments and wealthy individuals were increasingly snapping up millions of hectares of land in Africa for large-scale agriculture projects to grow food and biofuels for export.

Kenya and Tanzania were named among the most affected countries on the EAC region, joining the list of Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Zambia, Mali and Senegal.

Experts are warning that while the investments provide much-needed impetus to grow the EAC economies, especially the agricultural sector, they risk becoming sources of food insecurity, instability, social unrest and conflict.

Economists say reforms in EAC will enable more households to get title deeds that they can use as collateral to borrow money, and empower pastoralist communities to have better ownership prompting better housing and utilisation of that land.

“What is needed is efficiency in land registration and transactions. This will encourage more people to get into the real estate development sector and eliminate the risk of fake and disappearing title deeds,” said Haron Nyakundi, the chief executive officer of Harconsult, a Kenyan property development company.

In Uganda, experts said the changes in the land tenure system will pave the way for mechanisation of agriculture.

“The government should be figuring out a way to make sure the large swathes of idle land are available for mechanisation” said Edith Kateme-Kasajja, head of production and trade at Uganda’s National Planning Authority, which designed the country’s development plan.
In Uganda, individuals own small pieces of land and mostly use hand hoes for agriculture.

By Steve Mbogo, Emmanuel Rutayisire, Adam Ihucha and Dicta Asiimwe.