Attorney General Dorcas Oduor has established a rapid results initiative committee to review a total of 10,500 land and environmental cases where the government is sued to expedite the process of resolution and hasten the delivery of State projects.
The committee, made up of a team of advocates in the private sector and the state counsels from the attorney general's office, is expected to categorize all the cases related to the government in order of priority. It will be supported by a secretariat from the AG's office.
The team will also come up with interventions and remedial measures against any of the high-risk land and environmental cases and litigation exposure to the implementation of critical government projects and priorities aligned with the government’s agenda.
“The recommendations that the committee will make will help stakeholders in the land sector and policy makers in the county and national government in making decisions that will minimize the causes of land disputes and quick resolution when they occur to spur economic development,” Ms Oduor said.
The committee is also expected to invite the relevant government departments and stakeholders to gather insights on land environmental-related disputes and explore alternative dispute resolution methods.
“Alternative dispute resolution methods will play a key role in resolving some of the problems that we are having in court. It is upon this committee to review and engage the stakeholders to ensure that some of the cases are resolved outside court to fasten the process of getting justice,” she added.
Apart from reviewing the ongoing cases, the committee will also review judgments in land and environmental cases which have already been concluded to determine jurisprudential trends and their impact on litigation.
A legal audit carried out by the attorney general’s office has revealed that there are 10,581 land and environmental cases where the Kenyan government is the principal or interested party, currently awaiting determination.
The Attorney General’s office says 169 cases are on appropriation of private land by government, 315 cases on illegal acquisition of public land, 128 on compulsory acquisition of land, 283 cases on double allocation, 169 cases on eviction, 40 cases on historical injustices, 1,852 cases in land fraud and 37 cases on the right to clean environment.
Ms Oduor said each of the cases will be reviewed individually to determine the right strategy of fast-tracking them.
“In some cases, such as the double allocation of land, we expect the committee to vet and work with the people in the lands sector to come up with a genuine title deed that can be used in the courts to prove ownership. This will help us resolve such issues so that the government initiates projects,” she said.
