Sessional Paper No. 06 of 1970 on Land Consolidation and Registration in Kenya.

Abstract

On the 11th September 1964, the President made his now famous television broadcast in which he urged a return to the land which be described as Kenya's greatest asset. He emphasized not only that it must be put to its maximum production, but that also there must be secure rights in it, and to this end the present programme of consolidation and registration of land must be accelerated. In March 1965 the Kenya Government requested capital and technical assistance from the British Government in order to implement a broad programme of agricultural development in Kenya. The first objective in this programme was to establish the preconditions for a rapid rise in productivity in Kenya's farming areas. The most important of such preconditions is a satisfactory system of land tenure which can only be achieved by a basic reform in the present tribal system of land tenure, to be accomplished through an acceleration of the present process of land consolidation and registration. With the first objective in mind the British Government was asked to assist in assembling a small team of specialists to prepare a thorough and detailed report on land consolidation and registration as practised hitherto and make recommendations for its acceleration. Their report would form the basis of a formal application by the Kenya Government to the British Government for the requisite financial support for a specific programme of accelerated land consolidation and registration…