“When I look at the picture of the tallest building in New York City, The 102 floors Empire State building, and then think about the project constructor who delivered the building in 410 days my mind studies more,” says Sam who is planning to relocate back to Kenya 2012 and re-establish his construction business. Sam joined the construction industry in the mid 80’s and in over 20 years has being part of the completion of more than 500,000 sq meters of constructed space as lead constructor, foreman, project manager or civil constructor in Kenya and the U.S.
There are three possible justifications for some form of land tax in Kenya. First, given the strong evidence that small holdings are in general much more intensively utilized than larger holdings since they have both a higher output and a higher rate of employment per hectare, then a suitable land tax is one method of encouraging either the more intensive use of land by existing farmers or the sale of land to other people, which should also lead to an intensified use of the land. Thus the basic objective in this case is increased income generation and employment creation. ...
“I’ve have gotten information from the Kenya University Project that there is 12,000 acres allocated in for past 20 years that has never being utilized even a single day for economic activity. The people of a country must not be taxed to build roads and then have land allocated to individuals for speculative purpose with an intention to gain later. This is one reason Kenya is importing food and the Kenya shilling is unstable. I for one would not hesitate to rewrite the law of the land in such a way that all land allocated is efficiently used for the purpose it was allocated and if not it reverts to the government National or County to await good plans,” says Dr. Endege whose research work in cancer biomarkers and therapeutics discovery at Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Chiron Diagnostics Corporation Inc. resulted into at least five issued patents in the field of cancer biomarkers and drug discovery. On Diaspora running he says, “Diaspora Kenyans will definitely add value the discussion and policy development process, and should go fight vigorously for all open seats by clearly presenting their ideas and solutions for the issues that Kenyans in different parts of the country need to have solved. Kenyans are yearning for leadership that will make a difference.”...
As the land bill passage on the minimum and maximum land approaches, Kenyans may need to look closely at how the bill will be formulated. Roughly today there are about 100 titles of private leasehold or freehold land over 500 acres. As the land bill is presented it should take into consideration Kenya is made up of 582,000 sq km or about 145,500,000 acres and this land has to sustain the 40 million people and the wildlife. The bill should answer the question of, What should be the legislation of 81,000 acres issued as private leasehold be? Will the land bill be directed toward enabling better settlements for the millions of Kenyans living in slums and as squatters with nor legal rights in the land God created them in.
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“I find this proposal one sided and ill advised. It is not attainable. We are already paying so much tax! Why tax empty land? What about if one wants to maintain natural ecosystem say want to plant a forest? The policy makers need to rethink outside the box,” comments George on the proposal based on Article 68 C (1), Parliament shall (c) enact legislation— (i) to prescribe minimum and maximum land holding acreages in respect of private land. For Kenya to emerge from begging food and donations from countries who manage their resources even under extreme weather patterns that shut down land from production, Kenyans should no longer allow anyone to legally hold hundreds or thousands of acres through private leasehold titles. The strategic food reserves should never be empty at any given year....
Aspirants of Governor like Kenyan Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Richard Onyonka, who has stated his intention of running for Kisii County Governor, and County Assembly aspirants will need to make proposals on the land bill as relates to their goals for the county. Based on Permanent Secretary Dorothy Angote words, “There is no other standard against which we can weigh the legislations apart from the Constitution,” the aspirants for the 47 Governor seats and county assembly seats will have to see that the land bill takes into account the provisions made in the constitution as relates to land and county. Below some constitution clauses that should be considered by those who will be running for Governor or County Assembly seats and summary of approximate land acreage and people in county. ...
“There is no other standard against which we can weigh the legislations apart from the Constitution,” stated Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Lands, Dorothy Angote as relates to the land bills in a meetign. She added, “Interrogate the Bills keenly and ensure that they achieve the desired land reforms objectives relating to use, management, access and the right to land.” As the Land Bill develops for passage February 2012, Dorothy is the person expected to steer the process toward the best bill possible. Dorothy story told through her Curriculum Vitae (C.V) shows a reformer with a wealth of experience. ...
The constitution says there shall enact legislation to prescribe minimum and maximum land holding acreages in respect of private land in article 68. Further article 64 defines private land. To open the debate we propose 30 acres be maximum for private freehold, 50 acres be minimum for private leasehold for 99 years and no maximum acreage private leasehold for the same 99 years. However every acre in leasehold both minimum and maximum be taxed Kshs 10,000 per acre and a condition of employing one person for every 10 acres be legislated. This would mean the leasehold of 50 acres would pay Kshs 500,000 every year and employ 5 Kenyans as a condition to retain leasehold every year. If someone wants to apply for 10,000 acres as leasehold they be ready to pay Kshs 100 million tax every year and employ 1,000 Kenyans. A grace period can be given of 5 years. ...
A recent stakeholder’s workshop on the draft land bills held at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies in Nairobi had this comments expressed by the Kenya Minister of Lands, Hon. James Orengo and the Permanent Secretary Dorothy Angote-Muya as published in Ministry of Lands website. ...
One Friday, 04 November 2011, as posted in the Ministry of Lands Government Website the ministry issued a public notice as relates to implementation of Article 68 of the constitution. The article as required by constitution passed should have legislation enacted in 18 months form date of constitution change which ends in February. Below the public notice. ...
