Government institutions and absentee landlords will be compelled to negotiate a settlement with squatters who erect structures on their land if a motion presented in Parliament by Embakasi West MP Mark Mwenje is passed into law.
Mwenje tabling the motion in Parliament on Wednesday, August 16, noted that evicting land grabbers went against the Bill of Rights in Chapter Four of the Constitution that guarantees every citizen adequate housing.
The MP argued that squatters were compelled to grab land because of an acute lack of access to ownership of productive assets.
In particular, Mwenje noted that in most rural areas, many people had been forced to set up dwelling structures on land that was unfit for human habitation due to unfavourable squatting laws.
“There are very many squatters who have settled on land that belongs to either absentee landlords, un-adjudicated land, public land or community land for long periods of time,” the MP announced the scope of land grabbers who will receive a settlement.
The legislator further urged the Parliament to compel the Ministry of Lands to hasten the process of identifying parcels of land occupied by squatters where there are no disputes from any party and have the grabber's given title deeds of such land.
In cases where there are disputes, landlords and the government will be forced to look for means of settling the squatters financially.
“This House resolves that the Government develops and implements a policy for voluntary regularisation of land occupied by squatters for a prescribed period, including negotiations for financial settlements across the country to address the challenges facing the said squatters,” Mwenje in his motion stated.
The motion was tabled a week after Parliament approved a motion on Consideration of the Reports of the Auditor-General on the Financial Statements of State Corporations (Regulatory and Governance Agencies) tabled by Bumula MP, Wamboka Wanami.
The report authorised the eviction of squatters from government land and their subsequent arrest and arraignment in court.
The motion had not given authorisation for landlords to evict landgrabbers who set up structures on their land.
What the current laws state
According to Kenyan laws, a squatter can claim ownership of land if he lives on the piece uninterrupted for 12 years.
The law is known as Adverse Possession is stipulated under the Limitation of Actions Act, Cap 22 of the Laws of Kenya.
Under the law, a squatter can only claim the land if he did not leave the land at any point in the 12 years and was not served with an eviction notice. Additionally, the squatters must have grabbed the land publicly and in a non-consensual and non-permissive way.
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