Kenya Land Redistribution Experience: The million acre settlement scheme

1
Kenya Land Redistribution Experience The million
acre settlement scheme

• Karuti Kanyinga
• Institute for Development Studies
• University of Nairobi

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Outline of presentation

• Introduction land questions and policies in
  Africa
• The land question in Kenya
• land alienation and Mau Mau peasant rebellion
• Land redistribution
• One million acre settlement scheme and outcome
• Beneficiaries and implementation
• Current land re-distribution issues
• Conclusion
• Lessons learnt

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Introduction

• Resurgence of the land question in policy debates
  in Africa
• Land as an event around which major events are
  revolving
• Reasons
• Land questions embedded in the entire structure
  of agrarian societies
• New investment patterns

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The land question in Kenya

• Subject Issues of redistribution, restitution
  and settling historical grievances
• Origins
• Alienation of land for settler economy
• Imposition of English property law (title)
• Land tenure reforms

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Land alienation and peasant rebellion

• Establishment of the colonial state led to
  expropriation of land for settler economy
• Legal framework and force used to secure land
• Creation of Crown land
• Dual system of land tenure - scheduled areas
  (White Highlands) and native reserves
• Law used to generate labor force

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Alienation cont

• Native reserves features
• congested and lacked productive potential
• foreclosed frontiers
• Meant for each ethnic group
• Caused out-migration to the highlands
• White Highlands
• High potential
• Agricultural institutions in place

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Mau Mau peasant rebellion

• landlessness and oppression main factor
• Squatters in the highlands discontented and
  dissatisfied
• Peasants in the reserves impoverished and
  congested
• Colonial state became more oppressive in search
  of labour and in need to stop unrest
• Mau Mau arose as a land and freedom army
• Colonial administration as the enemy
• Land redistribution as the goal

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Land redistribution

• Government saw the problem as racial structure
  of land ownership
• Introduced reforms to favor prosperous Africans
• Formed Land Development and Settlement Board
  without involving African political leadership
• First resettlement involved yeomen and peasant
  farmers
• Settlers were favored in the negotiations that
  followed
• Settlers dominated conception and implementation

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One million acre schem

• Meant to address landlessness
• 1m acres to settle 35,000 families and a few
  assisted farmers
• Settlers given attractive package
• Government was central in implementation of the
  scheme

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One million cont

• The resettlement effort was ethnicised
• Some elites had acquired but not paid
• Scheme failed to address land hunger
• Racial structure was altered
• Economic structure remained intact new elites
  acquired large holdings
• Large farms (elite farms) under-utilised

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Current debates

• Politicised land re-distribution (political
  patronage in allocations)
• Ethnicization of redistribution efforts
• Reduced interests in settlement schemes
• Inter-ethnic conflicts constraining
  democratization of the society

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National land policy

• Produced in 2006 following a long period of
  consultations
• Key features
• People as owners of land
• Establishment of a legal framework to address
  re-distribution, restitution, and resettlement of
  squatters
• Redistribution to address landlessness
• Establishment of a national land commission and a
  land bank

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Conclusions and key lessons

• Redistribution efforts aimed at addressing a
  political problem
• Addressing landlessness has not been a major
  focus
• More concern with economic aspects than
  socio-political
• Political and economic elites favored by
  government redistribution efforts

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Some lessons

• Markets do not address landlessness
• Markets evolve skewed structure of land ownership
• Landlessness is both a political and an economic
  problems
• Requires political as well as technical and
  administrative solutions
• But political considerations should not override
  other considerations
• A clear national policy stemming from a
  constitutional framework is a requisite