Land Amendment: Kenyans Could Lose Their Land To The Government If MPs Pass New Bill
The ongoing debate over the Finance Bill, 2024 has brought to the forefront a number of other issues that the public has expressed concerns about, including the proposal to amend the Land Act of 2012.
The Land Amendment Bill number 2 of 2023 proposes to include a new clause requiring freehold land owners to pay land rent.
Freehold landowners have perpetual free ownership of their property and can use it for whatever purpose they want.
According to the Bill, the Land Act of 2012 is amended by inserting a new section immediately after section 54.
We will lose our land guys! I’m sure they are hoping that we are so focused on the Finance Bill that this punitive Land Amendment Bill sails through. We need to make noise about this. pic.twitter.com/Z79liJX1nS
— Monka (@MonyqueXO) June 29, 2024
According to the clause, the owner of any freehold land within the boundaries of any urban area or city is required to pay an annual land levy equal to the land rent charged on a comparable leasehold property of the same size and zone.
Experts, on the other hand, believe that if passed, the amendments, which are currently scheduled for second reading in Parliament, could result in the government seizing hundreds of Kenyans’ property.
According to Dr. Mwenda Makathimo, Executive Director of the Land Development and Governance Institute (LDGI), this equates to taxing Kenyans who own land in urban areas.
“This means the government is charging you a tax for owning freehold land which is not government land. That is what this Act will bring. The land you might have inherited from your parents or land that you might have bought is freehold land,” he stated.
“Imposing this annual levy on land that is freehold property essentially has the effect of converting freehold property into leasehold property and by that, running the risk of dispossessing many Kenyans who may not afford to pay the levy and this includes indigenous people whose lands are ancestral,” Eva Makori, Acting Regional Coordinator, International Land Coalition (ILC) Africa added.
The Bill, proposed by Ruiru MP Simon King’ara, could further give the Lands Cabinet Secretary power to acquire land compulsorily whenever the county or national government decides the need to acquire the parcel of land.
“Any amendment should not be contrary to the current title or interest that the person holds,” Marjorie Kivuva, Partner, Tarra Agility Africa, added.
“If the Constitution says you have a right to property then that should be protected. If the land law says you have a freehold interest and that interest carries an ultimate or superior title, where you are not paying annual land rate then that should be considered.”
Despite the government’s assertion that there is no such Bill, AfricasNow has discovered that the Bill has completed all of the National Assembly’s steps and is currently in the Senate.
Land Amendment: Kenyans Could Lose Their Land To The Government If MPs Pass New Bill
