The fact that City Hall has written to the National Land Commission demanding information on expired land leases will surprise many (see page 27). Wouldn’t it be a good and sensible thing if the NLC were to publish lease extensions at the end of every month or other set period?
Among other useful and lawful things, land buyers will be informed on lease status instead of walking into the ambush of acquiring property whose leasehold status is on the verge of expiry. Even genuine owners too often have trouble getting extension approvals thanks to land-buying cartels and corrupt bureaucrats and lie in wait foe inattentive landowners.
What’s more, leasehold renewal should be automatic for Kenyan citizens. As things stand now, the NLC is too secretive and opaque about lease extensions.
Cases such as the Kurjis', both of them in their 70s, who have been evicted from their land on the basis of an expired lease need never happen.
