The government is developing carbon credit regulations.
The Star interviewed Kenya Land Alliance CEO Faith Alubbe.
Excerpts:
As an alliance, what do you want to see from these regulations?
What is important is for public participation to be seriously considered to achieve the social legitimacy of the pertinent process. Targeted and selective public engagement will not be sustainable in the long run.
These regulations have been there for some time. What is happening now is that the government is responding to the renewed global interest and new realities around Kenya’s potential within the global conversation regarding carbon credits trading.
The Climate Change Act of 2016 does not address the various needs concerning carbon credits trading in Kenya. That is why the Climate Change (Amendment) Bill 2023 was tabled in Parliament last year and was later signed into law by President William Ruto in September.
As an alliance we are interested in:
- Ensuring the right legislation (those that take to heart the interest of the Kenyan people and environment/ land) are put in place going forward.
- We are keenly observing how the government, through these new regulations, intends to take care of the interests of the communities that are within or around the lands and forests where carbon credits trading will be undertaken.
- We are aware that this government has a proclivity for giving preferential treatment to foreign business interests such as those that have shown interest in carbon credits trading in Kenya, at the expense of Kenyan people. We want to see that these new regulations effectively check the government on this.
- We are keen to see that carbon trading is not allowed where communities do not have secure land tenure.
What do you think of the appointment of the University of Nairobi chancellor someone reported to have interest in carbon credits trading?
The appointment of Prof Patrick Verkooijen, CEO of the Global Centre on Adaptation, as the chancellor of UoN is a surprising move. The allegations that he is involved in carbon credits trading makes his appointment very interesting, considering President William Ruto’s rather problematic dalliance with the West’s idea of climate change response strategies.
Prof Verkooijen is the CEO of an outfit that defines itself as “a solutions broker to accelerate action and support for climate adaptation solutions”. The range of what this entails is not clear, but what we do know is that it relies heavily on public and private partnerships. With the President’s voracious appetite for climate action deal making, if the allegations against the new chancellor are true, Kenyans should brace for unfortunate times ahead.
The state has been pushing for affordable housing. In some instances, houses have been demolished. Some communities see the programme as a calculated move to take away their land. What is the position of the alliance?
As the Kenya Land Alliance, our allegiance is to the Constitution and the rule of law. The government’s demolition of houses in Kakamega (including the home of former CS Amina Mohamed) despite a court order halting the demolitions, is a violation of the law. It shows lack of good faith in the government of the day.
We view these not only as the abuse of the values and principles of public service as stipulated in Article 232 of the Constitution, but also as a contravention of Article 24 and Article 27 [on protection and non-discrimination by the state].
The government has been grappling with sourcing for land for the affordable housing programme. Often, it has circumvented constitutional processes in its quest for this land, including ignoring public participation and unprocedural conversion of land from one regime to another. Are the houses affordable, available and accessible to all cadre of Kenyans? Are public houses on public land made by public money being sold on commercial rates for the urban poor?
In some instances, elected leaders have arbitrarily hived off community land for this process. Going by how the government has approached land acquisition for affordable housing, the public is right to have its land grabbing suspicions. We call on all stakeholders to help ameliorate this negative trend.
The courts were clear on the housing tax deductions. Court awards should be respected.
What are some of the concerns the alliance wants addressed by the state, especially in the mining and extractive sectors?
The Kenya Natural Resources Atlas was launched by the National Land Commission last December. Before this, in 2022, former President Uhuru Kenyatta had launched the Nationwide Airborne Geophysical Survey, which provided comprehensive geospatial data covering the entire country. The report was prepared under Joint National Mapping Projects and it revealed new information about Kenya’s natural resources, including the existence of minerals that were, until then, not known to exist. But do these two processes reflect the actual mineral deposits in the country? Yes, natural resources fall within the public land ambit but, were communities and all stakeholders involved and consulted?
Additionally, it is a progressive action to generate data on the actual mineral deposits because the lack of reliable data and extraction expertise has left Kenya susceptible to brokers who exploit communities, especially artisanal miners. It makes the country vulnerable to predatory global business interests. As an alliance, as much as we would like to see the government buff up its data in the extractive and mining sector, community benefit-sharing processes should be entrenched in the extraction processes. The non-disclosure of concession to the public is also in bad faith. Open contracting curbs corruption and arbitrary decisions thus achieving transparency and accountability (Article 10).
Equally, we are keen on seeing to it that communities where minerals are extracted get their due benefits in terms of local content agreements, compensation for land that has been acquired by the state for mining activities and benefit share regulations are followed to a T when extraction begins. Lastly, there are human rights abuses perpetrated by multinationals in the extractive sector against communities, it is our prayer that such acts be brought to swift and uncompromised justice.
You are a key player in the review of Sessional Paper No 3 of 2009 on National Land Policy. Which areas are you keen to make sure are addressed?
It is quite positive that the review is about to start. This process was supposed to have taken place in 2020 but due to unclear circumstances it was delayed. As we know, the NLP informs Chapter 5 of the Katiba.
As KLA, we are concerned about the policy and institutional frameworks within the land and natural resources sector. The ongoing piecemeal amendment on land laws are a clawback. These amendments, if achieved, would result in a powerful Lands CS to oversee all processes, hence, going back to the old Land governance breaches. When a political appointee is put in such a position, it leaves a lot of questions and it's a breach of the checks and balance principles.
There is also the problem of the autonomy of constitutional agencies like the NLC that need to be looked at, especially on matters of budgetary allocation. Other than these, there are peculiar land issues such as the colonial leasehold lands that I believe should be addressed within the reviewed document. The government should guide on the issue of the collapse of the 999-year leases to 99 years.
Reforms are underway in the land sector to improve services. Ardhi Sasa and cashless transactions are among the programmes. There have been concerns about the effectiveness of the rollout. As a key player, how do you expect this to be undertaken?
The Ministry of Lands understands the importance of secure land tenure for economic development and preventing tribal conflicts. Its cavalier and haphazard handling of the Ardhi Sasa platform is troubling.
Our first concern is the rampant corruption and fraud at the ministry that has crippled the issuance of title deeds to legitimate landowners. Second, even though it was formed per Section 9 and 10 of the Land Registration Act, 2012, the running of Ardhi Sasa by the Registrar of Lands has been opaque and inaccessible. We urge the ministry to ensure transparency so public trust in the platform can be regained. LSK raised key issues in regards to Ardhi Sasa process… have they been addressed? How can such an intervention be audited?
Generally, the ongoing piecemeal amendment of land laws facilitates lots of legislative clawbacks. Selective stakeholders’ consultations and rushed arbitrary decisions on matters land are in bad faith and promote impunity/ land grabs.
