The Government is committed to hastening registration of community lands in some of 24 counties inhabited by pastoralist communities in the country, Lands and Physical Planning Chief Administrative Secretary Alex Mburi has said.
Speaking during the launch of Community Lands Summit held at a Nanyuki hotel, Mburi revealed that the government is working closely with the relevant stakeholders among them county governments to ensure that community lands are issued with title deeds.
He assured that once community lands are registered, land conflicts will come to an end. “We want to make sure that the community lands in 24 counties are issued with title deeds by the end of the year 2024. This will make the communities enjoy the benefits of owning title deeds,” the CAS said. This comes five years after the Community Lands Act 2016 was enacted.
Mburi noted that some parts of Laikipia, Samburu, Isiolo and Baringo are experiencing land conflict of which the lands ministry is determined to end through deploying lands registrars, Physical planners and Surveyors to the affected counties.
“We want to bring this problem to an end once and for all by allocating these communities title deeds. The process will be hastened as we are deploying more officers to the counties,” Mburi said.
The CAS further noted that his ministry had sensitized about 30,000 participants through a national programme for public education and awareness creation as required by the law.
Laikipia North Member of Parliament, Sarah Lekorere speaking at the same event said that the Community Land Act will enhance proper land acquisition and at the same time uphold peace among the pastoralist’s communities.
The summit was organized by Indigenous Movement for Peace Advancement & Conflict Transformation (IMPACT) and the National Lands Commission (NLC) and brought together representatives from the pastoralists’ communities to chart the way forward on the implementation of the Community Land Act of 2016 on enhancing community land registration and title deeds acquisitions.
Among the leaders present were Laikipia Deputy Governor, John Mwaniki, his Samburu counterpart Julius Reseto, National Lands Commissioner Tiyaha Galgalo, and area County Commissioner Joseph Kanyiri among others.
The Community lands Act was initiated in 2016 aimed at ensuring communities legally register their communal lands to ensure that marginalized groups legally own, claim, and manage their lands that they rely on for economic livelihoods.
In Laikipia North sub county, for instance Ilgw’esi community land measuring 8675 hectares and Mosul 2646 hectares respectively have acquired their title deeds.
By Muturi Mwangi and Cynthia Ronoh
