Kenya Land Redistribution Experience: The million acre settlement scheme Karuti Kanyinga Institute for Development Studies University of Nairobi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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