NAIROBI - The Institution of Land Surveyors of Kenya says land owners holding 999 years leaseholds will have to conform to the 99 years leases when the proposed constitution is promulgated.
Chairman Collins Kowuor says land is an emotive issue in the country but the proposed constitution which is based on the land policy is expected to correct anomalies in the current constitution that do not adequately address the land issue.
"If one is not a citizen, and owns land under a leasehold, such land will be leased to him upon his request to the Ministry of Lands for a new lease that will be 99 years," said Kowuor.
"This is encouraging given that 99 years are nearly three generations and one is able to do whatever development he wishes to undertake on the piece of land," he added.
Kowuor spoke, at the Association of Professional Societies in East Africa - APSEA organized public forum on the proposed constitution.
Kowour who is a land valuer said contrary to contentions that people could be disinherited, the proposed constitution helps to provide avenues through which the citizens can access land ownership for development purposes.
He said it was fallacious for some politicians to lie to the public that they would be disenfranchised once the new laws are passed.
He said the proposed constitution will aid in the formulation of laws that will guide the government on how to repossess wrongly acquired land.
"The land will not be merely taken over, it will have to undergo the due process of the law to determine whether or not it was wrongly acquired before such a thing is done," he said.
Campaigners for both the Yes and No camps have turned the land issue into a hot debate with the opponents of the proposed constitution claiming once passed both small and land owners would lose their land as parliament would be required to pass a law setting out both the minimum and maximum land which an individual should possess.
However those in the Yes camp maintain that nobody would lose their land saying that those making such claims are those who illegally acquired land and who are set to lose out once the new law is enacted.
Source:KBC
