Historical and Injustices

07 Mar

By: Evans Sirma 4

Land is a sensitive issue that directly affects the socio-economic stability of any community. Nandi County has a long trace of land issues dating way back to the colonial times. The County Government of Nandi has taken a keen interest in addressing the historical land injustices that has always haunted some residents of the county.

PROGRESS REPORT: PART ONE

REPUBLIC OF KENYA

THE COUNTY GOVERNMENT OF NANDI

THE COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE

Telephone: 053 5252355

P.O. Box 802-30300 KAPSABET Date: 30/05 /2018

PROGRESS REPORT

PART ONE

Table of Contents

PROGRESS REPORT 1

TASK DETAILS 2

Summary 2

ACTIVITIES & OUTPUTS 3

Summary chart; RESULTS 7

PARTNERS & STAKEHOLDERS 8

CHALLENGES & LESSONS LEARNED 9

BUDGET 10

TASK DETAILS

PROGRAM NAME	LAND RIGHTS AND LAND JUSTICE PROGRAM IN NANDI COUNTY
LOCATION	NANDI COUNTY
DEAPRTMENT	The County Attorney’s Office in conjunction with the Department Of Lands, Environment and Natural Resources
REPORTING PERIOD	15th March, 2018 to the 15TH of MAY, 2018.
REPORT COMPILED BY	AWI KIBET Legal Counsel (Litigation and HLI Affairs) NANDI COUNTY
DATE SUBMITTED	15TH OF MAY, 2018

Summary

On the 15th 0f March 2018 His Excellency the Governor and indeed his administration was charged and mandated by the people of Nandi to explore and pursue all available option to address what can be broadly classified as the land question in Nandi County.

The succinct reinstatement of the mandate can be captured in the annexed Nandi Hills declaration of 2018. (See appendix A)

The County Attorney’s Office in conjunction with the Department Of Lands, Environment and Natural Resources were tasked by H.E the Governor to pursue the agenda in line with the Nandi Hills Declaration of 2018 and the comprehensive strategy on land right and land justice program previously developed and adopted.

Without labouring by going into the details the strategy had adopted a four pronged approach.

A comprehensive redress of present and historical land injustices;
Creation and deployment of a County sponsored dispute resolution forum;
The realisation of land rights through a county sponsored program for the issuance of land titles; and
A program to audit land owned and/or held by the County Government of Nandi for the benefit of the residents of the County.

ACTIVITIES & OUTPUTS

A Comprehensive Redress of Present and Historical Land Injustices;

Status	In progress
Objective	Receive and document claims of historical injustices from and within the County, Set up a secretariat to evaluate, vet and offer proper redress to the of claims of historical injustices, Draw an appropriate policy framework to guide the process with a view of ensuring that the County delivers on its mandate as per the Nandi Hills Declaration. Establish am monitoring and evaluation framework to track any and all the progress made.
Activity dates	Planned: the 15th of march 2018 to date
Progress	To date e have received and catalogued over 50 individual cases of land related cases both as the county attorney’s office and through the department of lands, environment and natural resources,(see appendix B) We have been able to deal and dispense with a good number of the cases at first contact a times visiting the disputed parcels and offering redress as appropriate. We have been able to effectively communicate internally and externally (via social media and other channels) the progress we are making in matters touching on the lands justice programme We have continued to liase with our strategic partners and mainly the National Lands Commission on a path towards starting the hearing process for some of the cases. There have been joint meetings and consultative sessions between the County Attorney’s Office and the department of Lands, Environment and Natural resources.
Outputs created	We are happy to report that the NLC in partnership with the count, has set the 17th of May 2018 for the mention of a sample of cases emanating from the county We are currently working with the various claimants in the NLC process to enrich their claims and make appropriate preparations.

Creation and deployment of a County sponsored dispute resolution forum;

Status	Still under development
Objective	The existing Land dispute resolution mechanisms currently and in the past have been handled by a number of institutions, leading to an emergence of challenges, such as delays and complexity. Whereas the courts are the suitable and mandated institution for redress, they have over the years proven to be slow, costly, technical and in-exhaustive in providing proper redress. At some point the courts themselves have proven to be part of the problem. In order to unlock the equity in land, elevate it as a factor of production and boost investor confidence there is need to engineer a more proactive, efficient and effective process for the resolution of land disputes. The County Government of Nandi therefore needs to adopt Alternative Disputes Resolution (ADR) mechanisms to be established, promoted and spearheaded by the Legal Department in conjunction with other relevant departments.
Activity dates	The 15th of march 2018 to date
Progress	We are still evaluating the existing legal and regulatory framework with a view having a strategic and structured approach. Due concern is also being given to the issues such as the legal mandated, net effect of such intervention and the fical implications in the short and long term. We attended court during the mention of the TARTAR CASE AT ELDORET LAND AND ENVIRONMENT COURT where directions were taken and a hearing date was fixed with for the 4th off June 2018. We have engaged with the counsels of the TARTAR CLAIMANTS namely Kimaru Kiplagat & Co. Advocates with a view of exploring ways to settle their legal fees.
Outputs created	Despite of the forgoing the department have in their collaborative efforts intervened to settle some cases, with its officers acting as mediators. There is a boost in public goodwill for the county to continue intervening and to act to resolve some of the disputes

The realisation of land rights through a county sponsored program for the issuance of land titles;

Status	In progress
Objective	There is no debate that land administration and land rights delivery in Kenya has not met the expectations of the ordinary Kenyan. Reports from the various government commissions, regional workshops that were held in all the (former) provinces of Kenya, and consultative group meetings pointed out that on a general scale there has been a systematic breakdown in the management and land administration and land delivery procedures throughout Kenya over time with structures that are over-centralized at the Ministry of Lands and over-concentration of key functions on the state. The existing land administration and land rights delivery systems are bureaucratic, expensive in terms of transaction costs, undemocratic and prone to abuse, resulting into inordinate delays in the administration of land. This has made the ordinary Kenyan unable to access the relevant information necessary in land transactions and subsequently land ownership. In addition, there is inadequate participation by communities in the governance and management of land causing confusion and conflict especially in trust land areas by allowing the involvement of unauthorized persons in land administration. Locally There is a serious problem in the County where large numbers of locals in Nandi County continue to live inland they own but have no documents of ownership. This is largely attributable to stalled settlement and adjudication processes. This reality continues to haunt many families as the initial beneficiaries of the intended process continue to age and die, pilling more problems to this stalled process.
Activity dates	15th march, 2018 to date
Progress	The
Outputs created	The processing of over 2000 title deeds is on course

Activity a program to audit land owned and/or held by the County Government of Nandi for the benefit of the residents of the County;

Status	Ongoing
Objective	True land reform is only possible after a comprehensive audit of all land holdings. Major interest is to be directed at land owned or held by the County Government which would enable for it to be secured and exploited fully. The land leases issued by the county government ought to be audited with a view of establishing an up-to-date database.
Activity dates	15th March, 2018
Progress	Of urgent concern has been the process by the county to title some of its land holdings to enable its full exploitation. Some on the ongoing processes include ; Titling of the high court land Titling of land for the proposes office complex on the ground of the former municipality headquarters Regularisation of the land document over the land at show ground for the construction of the sports academy Annexation of land at chemise for the establishment of an EPZ,
Outputs created	All the aforestated activities are in progress

Summary chart; RESULTS

	Indicator	Baseline	Target	Status as of 30th April 2018
	A comprehensive redress of present and historical land injustices;	See Appendix C		In progress
	Creation and deployment of a County sponsored dispute resolution forum;	See Appendix D		In progress
3	The realisation of land rights through a county sponsored program for the issuance of land titles; and			In progress
4	A program to audit land owned and/or held by the County Government of Nandi for the benefit of the residents of the County.			In progress

PARTNERS & STAKEHOLDERS

The following table summarises our relationship with key partners and stakeholders during the reporting period:

	Partner / Stakeholder	Relationship update
	The National Government;
	The National Land Commission (NLC);
	The bona fide victims e.g. squatters;
	Religious organizations;
	Local and International Land based Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community Based Organizations and land activists;
	Agro-based Companies (Tea, Sugarcane and Multinational Corporations);
	Elected and local leaders;
	The Clergy;
	The Fourth Estate;
	Professionals and experts; and
	Council of Elders (Nandi Gaa Kaburwo).

CHALLENGES & LESSONS LEARNED

The following table summarises the challenges we have faced during the reporting period and the lessons learned / solutions for each challenge.

Challenge	Lessons learned / solutions
Insufficient documentary evidence in support of specific claims of present and historical land injustices,
Difficulty in identifying genuine squatters and victims as against impostors and busy bodies,
Death of victims, perpetrators and witnesses as the injustices sought to be remedied go as far back as the 1900s,
Negative and improper political influence,
Slow and lengthy judicial process,
The inadequacy of funds to facilitate the process, and
Lacuna in land law that transcends the noble cause of addressing land injustice.

BUDGET

Budget heading

Specific expenditure items

Unit cost

No of units

Expenditure this reporting period

Total expenditure to date

Formulate a policy on disputes resolution

County

Government to establish a taskforce comprising members of the legal and lands departments and external expertise if need be to formulate a comprehensive policy on the adoption and operationalization of an ADR process in the county.

Technical Committee Meetings

Transport

Venue

Meals

Allowances

Stationery

Miscellaneous

18,000/-

10,000/-

9,000/-

45,000/-

2,000/-

10,000/-

people 14 days

162,000/-

140,000/-

126,000/-

630,000/-

28,000/-

140,000/-

1,226,00/-

Undertake public participation in the final policy draftConnected to the drafting of the policy will be a comprehensive attempt to ensure that there is public participation for three reasons;

To help legitimize the process and infuse political goodwill of the residents of Nandi County.
To comply with the legal requirement for public participation.
To ensure that the final policy draft is alive to the local needs of Nandi County.

Technical Committee Meetings

Transport

Venue

Meals and

Allowances

Stationery

Miscellaneous

18,000/-

10,000/-

9,000/-

45,000/-

2,000/-

10,000/-

people 14 days

162,000/-

140,000/-

126,000/-

630,000/-

28,000/-

140,000/-

1,226,00/-

County executive committee approval for the deployment of ADR program in the County

Once the policy draft is ready the same shall be tabled in the County Executive Committee meeting where it shall be approved.

CEC MeetingTransport

Venue

Meals and

Allowances

Stationery

Miscellaneous

300,000/-

3 days

GVN

DGVN

11CEC

8 staff

900,000/-

900,000/-

Pilot run

To test the systems and its capacity to be effective the County should run a pilot program which shall yield useful data before its full operationalization.

ADR Committee Meetings Transport

Venue

Meals and

Allowances

Stationery

Miscellaneous

18,000/-

10,000/-

9,000/-

45,000/-

2,000/-

10,000/-

people 14 days

162,000/-

140,000/-

126,000/-

630,000/-

28,000/-

140,000/-

1,226,00/-

Establish a monitoring and evaluation system for appropriate feedback

Part of the process shall include a mechanism for monitoring its effectiveness to justify the fiscal and human resource costs.

External consultant Transport

accommodation

Meals

Allowances

Stationery

Miscellaneous

2,000/-

10,000/-

2,000/-

10,000/-

2,000/-

10,000/-

6 days

12,000/-

60,000/-

12,000/-

60,000/-

12,000/-

60,000/-

216,000/-

Defining the geographical area of interest;

Technical Committee Meetings

Transport

Venue

Meals and

Allowances

Stationery

Miscellaneous

18,000/-

10,000/-

9,000/-

45,000/-

2,000/-

10,000/-

people 14 days

162,000/-

140,000/-

126,000/-

630,000/-

28,000/-

140,000/-

1,226,00/-

Mapping property boundaries and identification of land parcels to be audited;

Technical Committee Meetings

Transport

Venue

Meals

Allowances

Stationery

Miscellaneous

18,000/-

10,000/-

9,000/-

45,000/-

2,000/-

10,000/-

people 14 days

162,000/-

140,000/-

126,000/-

630,000/-

28,000/-

140,000/-

1,226,00/-

Determining land ownership;

Subsequent financial years

Relating ownership information to property boundaries;

Establishing the status of access roads and routes;

Mapping current land uses;

Recording current land use control measures;

Deriving potential land use zoning,

Inferring land use status; and

Carrying out fieldwork.

Determining land ownership;

Engagement of consultants Lawyers

Researchers

Drafters

Legal dues Consultants

Drafters

1,000,000/-500,000,00/-

500,000/-

1,000,000/-500,000,00/-

500,000

2,000,000/-

Compensation and restorative payments\

Legal dues Land acquisitions

Compensation pay outs

1,000,000/-4,000,000/-

1,000,000/-

1,000,000/-4,000,000/-

1,000,000/-

6,000,000/-

TOTAL

Yours,

KIBET AWI

County Legal Officer

(Litigation and HLI Affairs)

PROGRESS REPORT: PART TWO

Land Rights And Land Justice Program: Historical Lands Injustices NLC Intervention

Program of activities in readiness for hearings on the 10th of July 2018

Folio	week	Dates	Activity	Target Outcome	Outcomes	Remarks
	ONE	28th of May 2018	Trial preparation for NYANDO VALLEY	Trial Readiness	Met with their officials at the ICT boardroom to review their documents and record witness statements .
		29th of May 2018	Trial preparation for TIMUR NANDI ASSOCIATION	Trial Readiness	Met with their officials at the ICT boardroom to review their documents and record witness statements
		30th of May 2018	Trial preparation for NANDI ROYAL TRUST	Trial Readiness	Met with their officials at the ICT boardroom to review their documents and record witness statements
		31st of May 2018	Trial preparation for TITAN SQUATERS	Trial Readiness	Met with their officials at the ICT boardroom to review their documents and record witness statements

	TWO	4th of June 2018	Trial preparation for KIMONDI SQUATTERS …. MWEIN KECHIRE	Trial Readiness	Met with their officials at the ICT boardroom to review their documents and record witness statements
		5th of June 2018	Trial preparation for SAVANI CLAIMANTS	Trial Readiness	Met with their officials at the ICT boardroom to review their documents and record witness statements
		6th of June 2018	Trial preparation for CHEMOMI SQUATTERS…KIMASAS GROUP	Trial Readiness	Met with their officials at the ICT boardroom to review their documents and record witness statements
		7th of June	Trial preparation for CHEPKUMIA EXCHANGE PROGRAM CLAIMANTS	Trial Readiness	Met with their officials at the ICT boardroom to review their documents and record witness statements
		8th of June 2018	Trial preparation for TANZANIA RETURNESS	Trial Readiness	Met with their officials at the ICT boardroom to review their documents and record witness statements

	THREE	11th of June 2018	Trial preparation FOR NANDI TUIMUR	Trial Readiness	Met with their officials at the ICT boardroom to review their documents and record witness statements
		12th of June 2018	Trial preparation for TALAI CLAN	Trial Readiness	Met with their officials at the ICT boardroom to review their documents and record witness statements
		15th June 2018	Trial preparation for TINDIRET TEA ESTATE SQUATTERS	Trial Readiness	Met with their officials at the ICT boardroom to review their documents and record witness statements

	FOUR	18th of June 2018	Site visit for audio visual recording of witness statements, NYANDO VALLEY ASSOCIATION	Trial Readiness	Managed to visit the claimants at POTOPOTO. Got to see the site of their ancestral and historical claim Got to see the various farms where they lay claim to. Interacted with the community and assured them of the County’s commitment to the HLI process Assessed their level of preparedness for the proceedings before the national land commission Recorded audio visual statements from witnesses whom might not get an opportunity to speak DURING THE HEARINGS
		19th of June 2018	Site visit for audio visual recording of witness statements NANDI TIMUR	Trial Readiness	Managed to visit the claimants at SORGORH POLICE STATION Got to see the site of their ancestral and historical claim Got to see the various farms where they lay claim to. Interacted with the community and assured them of the County’s commitment to the HLI process Assessed their level of preparedness for the proceedings before the national land commission Recorded audio visual statements from witnesesses whom might not get an opportunity to speak DURING THE HEARINGS
		20th of June 2018	Site visit for audio visual recording of witness statements MIWANI/ kibos ROUTE CHEMOLONGOL MKRT THEN CHEBIRIR MKT CHEMURSOI MKT	Trial Readiness	Managed to visit the claimants at KIBOS/MIWANI areas Got to see the site of their ancestral and historical claim Got to see the railway line and how it forms part of the boundary claim being advanced by Nandi County Interacted with the community and assured them of the County’s commitment to the HLI process Assessed their level of preparedness for the proceedings before the national land commission Recorded audio visual statements from witnesesses whom might not get an opportunity to speak.
		21at of June 2018	Site visit for audio visual recording of witness statements NANDI HILLS KIMASAS NANDI HILLS SAVANI	Trial Readiness	Managed to visit the claimants at NANDI HILLS KIMASAS GROUP SEET KAROI GROUP SAVANI Got to see the site of their ancestral and historical claim Got to see the various farms where they lay claim to AT THE TEA FARMS. Interacted with the community and assured them of the County’s commitment to the HLI process Assessed their level of preparedness for the proceedings before the national land commission Recorded audio visual statements from witnesses whom might not get an opportunity to speak DURING THE HEARINGS
		22nd of June 2018	Site visit for audio visual recording of witness statements CHEPKUMIA KIMONDI	Trial Readiness	Managed to visit the claimants at MWEIN SQUATERS CAMPKECHIRE SQUATERS CAMP NGEREK GROUP Paid a courtesy call to the ECOSYSTEMS CONSERVATOR NANDI COUNTY who later accompanied us to the various sites. Got to see the site of and status of their condition at the camp. Got to see the various farms where they lay claim to. Interacted with the community and assured them of the County’s commitment to the HLI process Assessed their level of preparedness for the proceedings before the national land commission

	FIVE	25TH TO 29TH OF JUNE 2018	VISIT BY TEAM TO VARIOUS REGISTRIES TO AS CERTAIN LAND RECORDS AND EVIDENCE TESTING KAPSABET LANDS REGISTRY NAIROBI LANDS REGISTRY KISUMU LANDS REGISTRY KENYA SURVEYS AT RUARAKA	Trial Readiness	Paid a courtesy call to the national land commission secretariat Visited lands and conducted searches on the various parcels of land Visited government surveys at Ruaraka

	WEEK SIX		Site visit for audio visual recording of witness statements CHEPKUMIA KIMONDI	Trial Readiness	Managed to visit the claimants at KOIBEM EXCHANGE PROGRAM YALA SIRWA CAMP TUIYO BEI GROUP Got to see the site of and status of their condition at the camp. Got to see the various farms where they lay claim to. Interacted with the community and assured them of the County’s commitment to the HLI process Assessed their level of preparedness for the proceedings before the national land commission
	WEEK SIX	2ND TO 6TH J ULY 2018	COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW AND STRATEGY MEETING	Trial Readiness	ON-GOING
	WEEK 7	9th -13th july 208	NATIONAL LAND COMMISSION HEARINFS AT NANDI		LOADING

PROGRESS REPORT: PART THREE

REPUBLIC OF KENYA

THE COUNTY GOVERNMENT OF NANDI

COUNTY LAW OFFICE

PROGRESS REPORT

TASK DETAILS

PROGRAM NAME	LAND RIGHTS AND LAND JUSTICE PROGRAM IN NANDI COUNTY
LOCATION	NANDI COUNTY
DEAPRTMENT	The County Attorney’s Office in conjunction with the Department Of Lands, Environment and Natural Resources
REPORTING PERIOD	15th May, 2018 to the 6th of July, 2018.
REPORT COMPILED BY	AWI KIBET Legal Counsel (Litigation and HLI Affairs) NANDI COUNTY
DATE SUBMITTED	15TH OF MAY, 2018

Summary

After the 17th of May 2018 mention of cases by the National lands commission the next challenge was to prepare for the hearing at three levels.

Readiness of the claimant groups
Preparation of the county’s own claim
Preparation of the border petition

To this end the HLI team drew a road map and a schedule of activities all geared towards adequate preparation as captured below.

Yours faithfully,

KIBET AWI

County Legal Officer

(Litigation and HLI Affairs)

One Comment

samwel kiprotich koech sec ngatipkong ndorobo squarters

Comments *thank
you
good work god pays
- 1:56 pm - December 6, 2020
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