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Mixed verdict as NLC commissioners call it a day
National Land Commission Chairman Gershom Otachi at a past event.
On the midnight of November 14, 2025, the mandate of seven of the nine-member National Land Commission (NLC) will be expiring after a six-year non-renewable tenure marked by what observers have termed lacklustre, against much public expectations.
The seven commissioners appointed in November 2019, whose mandate is ending, include Mr Gershom Otachi (Chairperson), Ms Gertrude Nguku (Vice-Chairperson) and members Prof James Tuitoek, Mr Kazungu Kambi, Ms Hubbie Hussein Al-Haji, Mr Alister Murimi Mutugi and Mr Reginald Okumu.
However, the tenure of two other NLC commissioners — Ms Esther Murugi and Ms Tiya Galgalo — appointed in December 2020, will lapse towards the end of 2026.
While the commissioners, inaugurated after the 2010 Constitution, may have succeeded in suppressing their boardroom wars compared to their predecessors, the failure to guide the country to enact a legislation to prescribe minimum and maximum private land acreage ownership in the country remains a blot on their tenure of office.
The legislation has remained elusive for over 15 years under the Constitution which introduced reforms in the land sector, amid insecurities and dilemma of the big landowners in the country pushing back against the law.
Outgoing NLC Chairman Gershom Otachi did not respond to our inquiries on why the commission has not been able to guide the enactment of the crucial law.
Article 68 (c) (i) of the Constitution states that Parliament shall enact legislation to prescribe minimum and maximum land holding acreages with respect to private land.
On Thursday, President William Ruto met the outgoing NLC commissioners at State House to receive their exit report, noting that their service to the nation has been “exemplary”.
“The NLC has played a vital role in safeguarding public land and shaping fair policies,” President Ruto heaped praise on them, noting that since it was created under the Constitution, it has resolved long-standing disputes. "As a result, tens of thousands of Kenyans have been settled and received land ownership documents.”
In our inquiries to Mr Otachi, we sought to know whether NLC fulfilled its statutory and constitutional mandate during his tenure, as well as the commission’s major achievements and failures.
We also wanted him to explain why the outgoing NLC commissioners received or attracted less publicity compared to the inaugural team, and whether there were impediments- political or legal- that hindered the commission’s mandate.
But even as the commission chairperson remained mum, the issue of absentee landlords, expired leases, especially at the Coastal region, remains largely unsolved more than 10 years after the establishment of the commission.
According to Mr Barasa Nyukuri, a Governance expert, the current commissioners “appear to have made no headway in solving these historical issues” hence Mr Otachi’s failure to assess the performance “in this area and state the impediments.”
“The squatter problem still festers despite the establishment of the NLC,” says Mr Nyukuri.
The insecurities over prescribing the minimum and maximum private land acreage ownership are compounded by fears that those who hold huge tracts of land could be targeted for disinheritance, even as the government agonises over the excessive fragmentation of land, particularly in agricultural areas.
Prior to the Constitution 2010, the Kenya National Land Policy of 2009, required the government to put in place a system to determine economically viable minimum land sizes and promote conformity of land subdivisions with the set minimum economically viable land sizes.
The 2025 draft advisory document on minimum and maximum agricultural land size in Kenya that the University of Nairobi (UoN) and Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development formulated, spells the need for implementation of development control on agricultural land the same way it is enforced on leasehold land tenure.
“A clear policy on minimum land sizes for agricultural land in different agro-ecological zones is therefore necessary to guide land subdivision without undermining food security,” the draft advisory document reads.
Land fragmentation among the country’s rural households, which has resulted in declining land holdings, has worsened food insecurity.
Urbanization, because of the increasing urban population, has also affected land holdings, with a third of the population leaving for urban areas.
In Kenya, land fragmentation and underutilised large holdings present challenges that call for a more structured intervention.
Kenya has an estimated 10 million people suffering from undernourishment as per the 2010 report of Kenya Food Security Steering Group (KFSSG), a multi-agency body that coordinates efforts to address food and nutrition security.
This figure was projected by the Agricultural Sector Coordinating Unit (ASCU) to increase to 30 million people by 2030, if measures to alleviate food security are not undertaken.
According to KFSSG, approximately 2.1 million people required emergency food assistance in 2021.
Dr Mwenda Makathimo, a land economist, says that the prescription of minimum and maximum land acreage ownership was “a noble idea” to curb land fragmentation and ensure productivity “so that we don’t get to situations of food insecurity".
“Right now, we have a serious fragmentation of agricultural land in the country, which has hindered agricultural productivity. This is a low-lying threat to food security,” said Dr Makathimo as he blamed the Ministry of Lands, the policy lead in the attainment of the law.
But even as Dr Makathimo spoke, implementing this constitutional requirement has in the past faced pushback from political leaders and powerful landowners who fear that it could lead to forced redistribution.
Easy influence
The land expert notes that fears that those who hold huge tracts of land, largely figures in politics, the executive and business world, could be targeted for disinheritance, presents a challenge to the enactment of this law.
“Since the bearers of political influence are in Parliament and the executive, they can easily influence the political system to ignore the law. This helps promote lethargy towards this law,” said Dr Makathimo.
This is compounded by the fact that Article 40 of the Constitution protects the right to property.
“What the constitution desires is sustainable and economic use of land. But what do you do with the ones holding huge tracts of land? How do you ensure that their rights are protected?” posed the land expert, adding, “It goes that the State cannot legislate to disenfranchise its people.”
The land economist further notes that even as the country continues to grapple with the challenge of minimum and maximum land acreage ownership, “equity demands that land should not just be held for speculation or primitive accumulation.”
“We need a system that ensures that the land they are holding is meant to produce. Otherwise, hoarding of land is discouraged. There needs to be distributive equity such that those who can’t produce release the extra land to the market for the economy to flourish,” the land economist says.
The National Land Policy 2009 identified land fragmentation as one of the largest threats to agricultural productivity in Kenya, thus a hindrance to attaining food security.
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