Land Issue in Kenya: Correcting Online Lies
Posted: Tue Jul 02, 2019 8:36 am
There were 3 older workers in the school I attended who had bought themselves pieces of land, between 3-5 acres. They had bought the farms years earlier in the 1970s. One was a cook, the other was a watchman, and the third was the school driver.
Their stories were known by almost all students. Mind you, these were the ones whose personal details were known by the students. Maybe there were other workers at the school who had also bought land.
What is important to note is that these were people earning around the minimum wage.
One thing that was common among these 3 gentlemen is that they were all known to be quite frugal - for instance, they all owned bicycles, and as much as we students could tell, they appeared to be the kind of people who could go for years without using public transport (i.e. minimum expenses).
All 3 gentlemen were semi-literate. It is important to note that these kind of people didn’t even have bank accounts those days - their banks was under the mattress, or similar place.
Therefore, they saved enough money, and later used it to buy land. Cash. While earning minimum wage.
Now, if a person earning minimum wage in the 1960s and 1970s could afford to buy land, what about people who had higher paying jobs? What about people who knew about banking, operated a bank account, and therefore could get a loan to buy land?
The point I am making is that, from my experiences, from stories of people I know, during the 1960s and 70s, any Kenyan - small scale farmer, small business owner, nurse, bus driver, watchman…- could afford to buy land, IF IT WAS HIS TOP PRIORITY.
Anyone disagreeing with me here, DO NOT depend on books/online articles…interview people who were adults those days (anyone over 70 now). I would be very happy to read an article based on an interview of a Kenyan who was a small scale farmer, small business owner, nurse, bus driver, watchman (i.e. had an income), and couldn’t afford to buy land in the 1960s/70s IF IT WAS HIS TOP PRIORITY.
My position is that no such person exists/existed.
What if someone says they didn’t have a job then, and they didn’t have land, therefore they couldn’t farm, hence they couldn’t have an income? Even today in Kenya, you don’t have to own land to farm.
I personally know many people who started by working on other peoples’ farms, graduated to leasing land to farm, and finally graduated to owning land.
Okay. So, everyone could afford to buy land. But some ended up with thousands of acres!
Land Sizes
If someone told you he wants to leave Kenya next week, and he is ready to sell his property worth KES 5 million at KES 200K as long as it is cash, would you be a good Kenyan and announce to everyone about it?
Or, would you go looking to borrow money from all possible sources and buy the property? It is called capitalism.
Do you think capitalism is bad, and you are a good person who doesn’t like capitalism?
How much do you earn per month? More than KES 30K? Do you know that the average Kenyan earns less than 10K per month? What have you done about that?
If we consider the size of Kenya, subtract the areas occupied by forests, game parks, roads, schools, mountains, lakes etc. and divide the land equally among all Kenyans, then each person would receive about 1 acre.
Do you own 2 acres, and feel a person who owns 2000 acres should share it with you? Well, the person who owns 0 acres thinks you should share your 2 acres with him…
That is why there is no place in the world where there is fair wealth distribution (including land distribution). Only in socialist countries i.e. countries where the government owns all the land (and even there, many citizens would tell you some are more equal than other).
Solution to (Major) Land Issues in Kenya
My own family was dispossessed of all land during the colonial period. Was that fair? Absolutely not.
However, I know that my family did not own that land 1,000 years ago.
The point I am making is that from time to time, societies have to sit down and analyse situations based on prevailing circumstances.
I suggest that Kenya should enact a law stating that any land over 100 acres CANNOT be subdivided without authority from National Land Commission (or similar body).
The NLC (or similar body) would be guided by clear guidelines as to reasons allowing land subdivision for parcels 100 acres or more: e.g. for building public amenities, expansion of cities/towns etc.
Therefore, if a person has a farm of 100 acres or more, and wants to subdivide it to his 5 children, he cannot do so. However, he can sell the land to a single buyer (individual/company) and divide the money among his children, who can then buy smaller parcels of land elsewhere, or invest in whatever way they wish.
Apart from safeguarding food security, this law will eliminate the issue of incitement, whereby people are told that if they chase Mr X away, they will subdivide his land among themselves. Note that, the politicians who incite villagers to invade other peoples’ land because they are “foreigners”, do not do so because of altruistic reasons.
They know that if the eviction were to succeed, they would be able to allocate their own relatives significant sections of that land, to hold it on the politicians’ behalf. The peasants would be the losers.
But, with the banning of subdivision of large estates, incitement wouldn’t work. If, however, politicians in a certain county feel that a certain “foreign” land owner should let a local own the farm, all they have to do is invite all tycoons from that county to a meeting, and request one of them to buy the farm (there is no county in Kenya without some rich persons).
If none of the tycoons wants to buy the farm, then the politicians should consider themselves stupid.
If however, one tycoon agrees to buy the farm owned by the “foreigner”, but cannot afford the asking price, the politicians can organise a harambee for local people to top up the remaining amount.
If local people refuse to participate in that harambee, then the politicians should consider themselves to be both stupid and myopic.
Eliminating Poverty
Subdivision of large farms would lead to less food in the country, and more poverty. Subdivision of large ranches would mean less employment opportunities.
In the case of places where people keep plenty of cattle, and feel that if neighbouring ranches were given to them, then it would rain honey, they are very mistaken. The problem they have is caused by BAD land management, not lack of land.
Have they tried planting/storing fodder to feed their cattle during drought? No? Why? What is the county government doing about that? By the way, I believe creation of counties is one of the best constitutional amendments in Kenya ever.
If the biggest problem in a county is lack of water, they can concentrate on solving that problem. If its lack of seeds, same case. If it is lack of animal feed, the county should be able to help solve that problem if they wanted.
Providing affordable housing is one of the best ways to tackle poverty. The national government housing policy is great. Counties also need to chip in and build a certain number of apartments/houses per year for the most needy in the county.
There is currently a monthly stipend paid to the elderly and the disabled. Counties should now provide some stipend to the extremely poor in their county. I know that there are some counties that already provide food to the very poor. Congratulations.
Their stories were known by almost all students. Mind you, these were the ones whose personal details were known by the students. Maybe there were other workers at the school who had also bought land.
What is important to note is that these were people earning around the minimum wage.
One thing that was common among these 3 gentlemen is that they were all known to be quite frugal - for instance, they all owned bicycles, and as much as we students could tell, they appeared to be the kind of people who could go for years without using public transport (i.e. minimum expenses).
All 3 gentlemen were semi-literate. It is important to note that these kind of people didn’t even have bank accounts those days - their banks was under the mattress, or similar place.
Therefore, they saved enough money, and later used it to buy land. Cash. While earning minimum wage.
Now, if a person earning minimum wage in the 1960s and 1970s could afford to buy land, what about people who had higher paying jobs? What about people who knew about banking, operated a bank account, and therefore could get a loan to buy land?
The point I am making is that, from my experiences, from stories of people I know, during the 1960s and 70s, any Kenyan - small scale farmer, small business owner, nurse, bus driver, watchman…- could afford to buy land, IF IT WAS HIS TOP PRIORITY.
Anyone disagreeing with me here, DO NOT depend on books/online articles…interview people who were adults those days (anyone over 70 now). I would be very happy to read an article based on an interview of a Kenyan who was a small scale farmer, small business owner, nurse, bus driver, watchman (i.e. had an income), and couldn’t afford to buy land in the 1960s/70s IF IT WAS HIS TOP PRIORITY.
My position is that no such person exists/existed.
What if someone says they didn’t have a job then, and they didn’t have land, therefore they couldn’t farm, hence they couldn’t have an income? Even today in Kenya, you don’t have to own land to farm.
I personally know many people who started by working on other peoples’ farms, graduated to leasing land to farm, and finally graduated to owning land.
Okay. So, everyone could afford to buy land. But some ended up with thousands of acres!
Land Sizes
If someone told you he wants to leave Kenya next week, and he is ready to sell his property worth KES 5 million at KES 200K as long as it is cash, would you be a good Kenyan and announce to everyone about it?
Or, would you go looking to borrow money from all possible sources and buy the property? It is called capitalism.
Do you think capitalism is bad, and you are a good person who doesn’t like capitalism?
How much do you earn per month? More than KES 30K? Do you know that the average Kenyan earns less than 10K per month? What have you done about that?
If we consider the size of Kenya, subtract the areas occupied by forests, game parks, roads, schools, mountains, lakes etc. and divide the land equally among all Kenyans, then each person would receive about 1 acre.
Do you own 2 acres, and feel a person who owns 2000 acres should share it with you? Well, the person who owns 0 acres thinks you should share your 2 acres with him…
That is why there is no place in the world where there is fair wealth distribution (including land distribution). Only in socialist countries i.e. countries where the government owns all the land (and even there, many citizens would tell you some are more equal than other).
Solution to (Major) Land Issues in Kenya
My own family was dispossessed of all land during the colonial period. Was that fair? Absolutely not.
However, I know that my family did not own that land 1,000 years ago.
The point I am making is that from time to time, societies have to sit down and analyse situations based on prevailing circumstances.
I suggest that Kenya should enact a law stating that any land over 100 acres CANNOT be subdivided without authority from National Land Commission (or similar body).
The NLC (or similar body) would be guided by clear guidelines as to reasons allowing land subdivision for parcels 100 acres or more: e.g. for building public amenities, expansion of cities/towns etc.
Therefore, if a person has a farm of 100 acres or more, and wants to subdivide it to his 5 children, he cannot do so. However, he can sell the land to a single buyer (individual/company) and divide the money among his children, who can then buy smaller parcels of land elsewhere, or invest in whatever way they wish.
Apart from safeguarding food security, this law will eliminate the issue of incitement, whereby people are told that if they chase Mr X away, they will subdivide his land among themselves. Note that, the politicians who incite villagers to invade other peoples’ land because they are “foreigners”, do not do so because of altruistic reasons.
They know that if the eviction were to succeed, they would be able to allocate their own relatives significant sections of that land, to hold it on the politicians’ behalf. The peasants would be the losers.
But, with the banning of subdivision of large estates, incitement wouldn’t work. If, however, politicians in a certain county feel that a certain “foreign” land owner should let a local own the farm, all they have to do is invite all tycoons from that county to a meeting, and request one of them to buy the farm (there is no county in Kenya without some rich persons).
If none of the tycoons wants to buy the farm, then the politicians should consider themselves stupid.
If however, one tycoon agrees to buy the farm owned by the “foreigner”, but cannot afford the asking price, the politicians can organise a harambee for local people to top up the remaining amount.
If local people refuse to participate in that harambee, then the politicians should consider themselves to be both stupid and myopic.
Eliminating Poverty
Subdivision of large farms would lead to less food in the country, and more poverty. Subdivision of large ranches would mean less employment opportunities.
In the case of places where people keep plenty of cattle, and feel that if neighbouring ranches were given to them, then it would rain honey, they are very mistaken. The problem they have is caused by BAD land management, not lack of land.
Have they tried planting/storing fodder to feed their cattle during drought? No? Why? What is the county government doing about that? By the way, I believe creation of counties is one of the best constitutional amendments in Kenya ever.
If the biggest problem in a county is lack of water, they can concentrate on solving that problem. If its lack of seeds, same case. If it is lack of animal feed, the county should be able to help solve that problem if they wanted.
Providing affordable housing is one of the best ways to tackle poverty. The national government housing policy is great. Counties also need to chip in and build a certain number of apartments/houses per year for the most needy in the county.
There is currently a monthly stipend paid to the elderly and the disabled. Counties should now provide some stipend to the extremely poor in their county. I know that there are some counties that already provide food to the very poor. Congratulations.