WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2010-04-12 Time: 08:00:01 Posted By: News Poster
By Otieno Otieno
Nairobi – By virtue of his training, Macharia Munene, the history and international relations scholar at the United States International University in Nairobi, does not brag about his foresight.
Back in January, shortly after MPs in the Parliamentary Select Committee announced a deal on the hitherto divisive issues of system of government and executive authority at the Naivasha talks, Prof Munene predicted in an interview that the land question remained a potential threat to the draft constitution.
Now after watching events unfold in the past week, he feels he has been vindicated.
“Everyone who has come out to oppose the draft has his or her little problem with some item. Church leaders, for example, say they are against clauses on abortion and kadhis’ courts while some MPs and ministers have taken issue with a clause touching on national security. But the common thing about most of them is that they are wealthy land owners,” says Prof Munene.
Prominent figures who have publicly opposed the proposed constitution include former President Moi, Environment minister John Michuki, Agriculture minister William Ruto, former National Assembly Speaker Francis ole Kaparo, and Baringo North MP Sammy Mwaita who is former Commissioner of Lands.
Aside from Mr Michuki who has expressed his misgivings with a clause in the bill of rights about freedom of association, the others have cited the chapter on land among their grievances.
The chapter, which borrows heavily from the national land policy adopted last year, proposes radical reforms meant to ensure fair access to land. It also seeks to correct long-standing injustices that have in the past seen people with connections grab land hence rendering a large section of the population squatters.
To guard against possible abuse in future, the draft transfers crucial administrative responsibilities to an independent national land commission from a manipulable Commissioner of Lands, bars non-Kenyans from owning freehold land and restricts them to leases of 99 years.
A controversial colonial land policy which allowed foreigners, including multinationals involved in agribusiness and ranchers, generous 999-year leases has been widely blamed for land-related problems in the country.
Ibrahim Mwathane, the former chairman of the Institute of Surveyors of Kenya and a consultant on land matters, says the policy is no longer tenable considering the country’s growing population and development needs.
“Given that an estimated 75 per cent of Kenya’s population is under 35 years, it does not make sense to lock out successive generations of people from food production and other economic activities by having the most productive land in the hands of just a few individuals for such a long period of time,” says Mr Mwathane.
“The other scenario whereby a majority of Kenyans are forced to subdivide their land into economically unviable parcels or live as squatters does not also make sense.”
Another major change to land policy under the proposed constitution is the fact that it recognises some land identified as belonging to communities for grazing, worship and other cultural reasons.
But critics of the chapter on land have sought to depict it as breaching the right to own private property and attempting to introduce socialism in Kenya.
Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo, speaking for a group of MPs who last Thursday announced their plan to campaign against the draft, said a section of the proposed constitution that requires Parliament to enact legislation to set limits to the amount of land one can own undermines capitalism.
Land experts like Mr Mwathane, however, believe that the fear among such politicians and other wealthy land owners lies elsewhere in an item that has until now evoked little or no discussion publicly.
“Forget the talk about minimum and maximum amount of land. Their (the large land owners’) problem is with an item in Section 68 that requires Parliament to enact legislation to enable review of all grants or dispositions of public land to establish their propriety or legality,” says Mr Mwathane.
The effect of such legislation is that people who were allocated land illegally might be required to surrender it to the government. Recent efforts to implement similar recommendations by the Ndungu Commission and the Mau taskforce committee met resistance among powerful people.
The anti-draft lobby is expected to even get more formidable in the event that another wealthy group of land owners, mainly foreigners, join the ranks. Prof Munene says the group, thought to have sway on the local political class and international donors, is likely to push their hidden agenda from behind the scenes.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 10 April 2010
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201004120188.html?viewall=1