The Land Value Index (Amendments) Bill, 2018 (Senate) proposes to amend the Land Act, the Land Registration Act and the Prevention, Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons and Affected Communities Act; to provide for the assessment of land value index in respect of compulsory acquisition of land. The key objective of the Bill is to regulate the process of compulsory acquisition of land to successfully implement public infrastructural projects under the Vision 2030 blueprint. The Bill provides that owners of land that is forcibly acquired for such projects must be compensated within two years upon the declaration of such takeover being published in the Kenya Gazette.
In the event there is no compensation two years after the public notice, the transaction shall be deemed to have lapsed, in what the Ministry of Lands says is aimed at cushioning land owners from long delays. The Bill vests the power to make decisions on land compensation in a proposed Land Acquisition Tribunal, which will hear and determine appeals on matters relating to compulsory acquisition of land.
The Council of Governors (CoG) wants owners of land taken for infrastructure projects to be compensated before such initiatives start to ensure fairness in such acquisitions. The CoG said it takes too long for land owners to be compensated whenever they surrender their land for such projects, noting that many people had been left destitute as a result.
Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu, who is the chairman of the Lands, Planning and Urban Development Committee, told a Senate team that no project should be commissioned before landowners are fully compensated, saying that the intention of starting projects is not to cause suffering.
[From: The Daily Nation, by Ibrahim Oruko]
