Members of the National Civil Society Congress expressing solidarity at a press conference in Nairobi on February 26, 2012. Photo/BILLY MUTAI
By ALPHONCE SHIUNDU ashiundu@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Sunday, February 26 2012 at 13:38
Posted Sunday, February 26 2012 at 13:38
Members of Parliament on Sunday got a rare backing of the civil society following their decision to shift the deadline required to approve land laws to April 26 this year.
The National Civil Society Congress, which has for the longest time been on the warpath with MPs –over issues of their non-payment of tax and meddling with the laws to implement Kenya’s 18-month-old Constitution -- lauded the MPs for creating more time to consult the public on issues of land.
The House passed a resolution granting sixty more days within which the Bills dealing with land reforms –the National Land Commission Bill, the Lands Bill and the Land Registration Bill— will be debated, amended and approved.
Monday is the deadline for the enactment of laws on devolution, and had also been scheduled for laws on land, but noting the tight timelines within which the MPs had to approve the laws, the MPs exempted the laws on land from Monday's cut-off date.
“The extension of the period should create room for citizens to take part in the formulation of laws so that they meet their expectations,” said Mr Morris Odhiambo, the president of the lobby.
But as they lauded the lawmakers, they warned that the issues of land have to be expedited before the next polls to avert a sense of deprivation that has persisted since independence.
“We wish to remind Kenyans that the failure to manage land and ensure equitable access has been a source of major conflicts including the post-election violence of 2007/08… land grievances largely fuelled the State-engineered clashes of the early 1990s,” Mr Odhiambo added.
They added that various groupings in the country, fighting to bring about land reforms, such as the Mombasa Republican Council and the Sabaot Land Defence Forces, had valid issues that needed to be addressed quickly.
They said that issues of land have gobbled up millions of public funds, first in the commissions that investigated land grabbing by well-connected individuals, and later in the formulation of the National Land Policy.
“Millions and millions of money have been spent on land reforms. We don’t want those millions to go to waste,” added Mr Ahmed Ramadhan, an activist.
The call to expedite the legislation on land comes as Parliament shelved all its business to focus on the controversy over electoral boundaries, the delimitation of 1,450 county wards and the 290 constituencies in the country.
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