•Land was used to buy political support.
•There is need tom implement TJRC and Ndung'u reports.
During the many years of Kanu under the old Constitution, land was politicized and handed out as a reward to buy political support and loyalty. Many terrible things happened and this is when large chunks of public land was allocated to politicians and their cronies.
Last week in Buruburu Estate we saw an example of the wanton disregard of the law where greedy individuals blatantly took over public land. Such cases were common in the era of former President Daniel Moi. Many influential people allocated themselves land set aside for public use.
The real solutions to all these problems and historical land injustices are implementing the Ndung'u Land Report which the government has not implemented to date. It also involves implementing sections of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission report that looked into land issues from a historical injustice point of view.
And if the government had the political will, and think it has, then some of these problems that continue to bedevil our society and communities in counties can be addressed.
So all these need to be implemented. The framework of the Building Bridges Initiative and particularly the task force that is collecting views on governance and other issues is very important towards implementing these reports.
Affected communities need to seize this opportunity and make a presentation and a passionate call for the implementation of these two reports because it is the implementation of the recommendations of the reports that will provide solutions to some of these problems and challenges that have always bedevilled Kenyans and threatened, unity, stability and co-existence.
We have seen the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta is determined to fight corruption in a way that has never been tried before.
Through the handshake with former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, this country needs to be restored to its ambitious past.
I think one of the recommendations of the BBI, even if it is to be done in phases, is to implement the recommendations of TJRC and the Ndung'u Report. That is the only route to lasting peace.
The human rights activists spoke to the Star