Security of tenure under the community land bill 2015
Date
2016
Authors
Gatumo, Nella Kawira
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
The onset of Colonialism in Kenya dealt a blow to the customary land tenure by failing to give it
legal recognition in preference for the common law private ownership tenure system. This lack
of recognition deprives communities of security of tenure over community land. The
Constitution of Kenya 2010 requires parliament to enact legislation on Community Land
(Community Land Bill 2015) to provide for this recognition and hence security of tenure. This
research evaluates the nature of community land rights in Kenya and sets out to answer the
question whether the Community Land Bill 2015 will achieve this goal using respondents in
Narok County as a case study. The study focuses on answering three research questions; how a
community is defined by the respondents, and how this compare to the provisions in the
Community Land Bill 2015. What is the bundle of rights contained in the community land
according to the respondents and how this compare to what is contained in the Community Land
Bill 2015. Lastly, how these first two questions are answered will determine the security of
tenure under the Community Land Bill2015.
The respondents of the Case Study highlighted that the bundle of rights in the community land
included rights of occupancy, use among others. However, these rights are restricted and others
seemingly absent. The respondents further also defined the community mostly along ethical lines.
These findings are compared to the corresponding provisions of the Community Land Bill2015
which are more encompassing than the views of the respondents. This comparison attempts order
to yield holistic results in the area of group ownership of land in Kenya.