Discussion Paper No. 119 of 2010 on Ndung'u Report on Land Grabbing in Kenya: Legal and Economic Analysis

Abstract

Land grabbing is one of the past injustices that the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and Sessional Paper No. 3 on National Land Policy of 2009 recommended for immediate attention. It is a post-independence phenomenon which intensified in the 1990s. The phenomenon has been driven by both external and domestic factors. Due to its intensity, there has been outcry from aggrieved communities and civil society groups challenging the illegal and irregular allocations, which largely fueled the ethnic clashes in 1992, 1997 and 2002. This outcry prompted the government to establish the Ndung’u Land Commission in 2002. The Commission identified the persons to whom land was allocated unlawfully or irregularly, and the officers involved in the allocations. It also recommended the legal and administrative measures to be taken. Though the report was completed in June 2004, it has not been implemented to date. The unresolved grievances may have contributed to the 2007 post-election clashes. This paper analyzes the recommendations of the Ndung’u report, and specifically the behaviour of the beneficiaries of illegally allocated public land, and assesses what hindered its implementation...