New law seeks to weed out land speculators : The Standard

The Government has moved to end land speculation which has inflated the cost of infrastructural projects with a new law that spells new conditions for compensation. According to The Land Value (Amendment) Act, 2019, you will need to have occupied a parcel of land for more than two years prior to the date of acquisition to be eligible for increased compensation due to its increased value. Moreover, you will not be compensated if “the increase in the value of land is occasioned by the intended use or development of the land to be acquired” such as building a road, railway, dam, power line and any other development projects. This is aimed at curbing speculation on land where individuals have been buying parcels in the hope of driving up prices. Increased value due to improvements of the land after the publication of the Gazette notice with the intention of acquiring the land will also lead to disqualification. Although owners of land compulsorily acquired shall choose the form of compensation, monetary payment is not the way in which one shall be compensated in what is aimed at expediting the compensation process. One can also be allocated an alternative piece of land of the same value nearby; be issued with a government bond or get a stake in one of the Government’s entities.

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Compensation process shall not take more than two years, after which it lapses. However, one can get compensation for loss of profit as a result of the acquisition, provided someone can show evidence of tax returns. When he signed the Bill into law in August, President Uhuru Kenyatta noted that besides streamlining land rates, rent, stamp duty and compensation processes, the Land Value (Amendment) Act is also intended to ease the acquisition and access to land for the implementation of public infrastructure projects. The Government hopes that with the law, land compensation will take less than a year. To be compensated, the Government shall look at how much time uninterrupted one has occupied or had an interest in the land before the date of acquisition. Declared value A land value index shall be developed in the next six months and shall be used to evaluate compensation that shall be paid out. It will include analytical representation showing the distribution of land values in a given geographical area at a specific time. It will also comprise the declared value of the land for purposes of payment of rates, rents or stamp duty. Those without title deeds will also get compensated, as long as they got the land in good faith. These occupants of land compulsorily acquired shall be assessed based on the number of persons in actual occupation of the land for an uninterrupted period of six years immediately before the publication of the notice of intention to acquire the land. Protracted land compensation process has not just been killing critical projects; analysts believe it has also been killing Kenya’s dream of becoming an industrialised, middle-income economy by 2030.

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