THE UNIVERSITY OF LEIPZIG

deliberately destroyed. 392 Very often, land was sold by grantees without any adherence to the
conditions laid down by letters of allotment, and many illegal titles to public land were
transferred to third parties. In most circumstances such land belonged to state corporations
and the Forest Department. 393
The Ndung’u Report on land which was illegally allocated to individuals and companies, and
then often sold on to third parties, whilst land reserved for public purposes such as forests,
national sanctuaries and reserves etc., had been sold off in blatant disregard of the law by both
the Commissioner of Lands and numerous local Authorities. 394 In summary, it was found out
that the powers vested in the President had been grossly abused by both the President and
successive Commissioners of Lands and their deputies over the years. This happened under
both the Kenyatta and Moi regimes. At the lower levels, there had been unbridled plunder of
public land and other biodiversity resources by local councillors and provincial officials. 395
Most high profile allocations of forested land were made to companies incorporated by
henchmen in the ruling KANU Party. Finally, and strikingly, the Ndung’u Report found out
that ‘most illegal allocations of public land took place before or soon after the multiparty
general elections of 1992, 1997 and 2002, reinforcing the view that public land was allocated
‘as political reward or patronage, which Bayart referred to as the as the “politics of the
belly”. 396
The other issue that we ought to highlight in this treatment is the farming system that has been
obtained in most of the Kenyan Forests - the shamba system. This is a system used by the
people who live in the forest because they want to participate in some quasi agro-forestry
program. 397 Such people are not really forest dwellers. For they are people who are brought
into the forest to assist the foresters establish commercial plantations. However, they have
been used as agents of deforestation and land grabbing. The shamba system became one of
the transit routes to destroy Kenyan forests. But as it obtains today, this is a very politically
charged issue because there are people who were displaced and have not been able to go back
to their land. This scenario has also led to heated debates, tensions and clashes. There are
chances of more emerging clashes and perhaps making the people to reclaim their land could
probably create more tension since land issues are commonly exploited by politicians in an
effort to obtain political mileage over their rivals.
392
Ibid.
393
Njuguna, P and D. Mbithi. 1996. Reconnaice Survey of Forest blocks in East and Western Rift Valley.
Permanent Presidential Commission on soil consevation and Afforestation. Nairobi.
394
Ibid.
395
The Ndungu Report, Opcit.
396
Bayart, J.F. 1993. The State in Africa: The politics of the belly. London: Longman.
397
Jackqueline, M.P. 2000. Pilfering the Public: The Problem of Land Grabing in Contemporaray Kenya. Africa
Today 47(1): 7-26.
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