The Council of Governors Lands, Housing and Urban Development Committee convened a consultative meeting from 23rd to 24th January 2023 with key stakeholders including the Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development, the National Land Commission, Intergovernmental Relations Technical Committee, Development Partners, Professional Associations and Registration Bodies to discuss strategic issues affecting the sectors.
The meeting, held in Mombasa, deliberated on: Land Governance and Spatial Planning; Urban Governance, financing and management; Review of Sector Policies and Laws; Management of the housing function; ongoing and proposed programmes and projects in the sectors.
Addressing members of the press, the Chairperson, COG Lands, Housing and Urban Development Committee H.E. Prof. Anyang Nyong’o underscored the need to ensure inclusive and sustainable urban development that spurs growth and creates resilient communities. “The Future is Urban”, he stated.
“We need to conduct an overhaul of the policies and legislations in the sector that claw back on the spirit of devolution to ensure they are responsive to the existent challenges and in alignment with the Constitution of Kenya 2010”, noted H.E Prof. Nyong’o. He singled out among others the Survey Act, Land Control Act, District and Provinces Act, Physical and Land Use Planning Act, and Valuation for Rating Act.
CS Zacharia Mwangi Njeru, Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development on his part reiterated the commitment of the National Government to work in collaboration with County Governments to create an enabling legislative environment for the sector and roll out the digitization of land records across all the Counties. Further, He affirmed the need to register and issue title deeds for public land owned by the government.
“We are keen on working closely with the COG, to unlock issues regarding Land, Housing, and Urban Development. I request that we have regular meetings to track the implementation of the resolutions, that we will develop and agree on during this forum”, stated the Cabinet Secretary.
The meeting emphasized the need to create a framework/MOU to guide the procedures of identifying land owned by County Governments and land swapping to facilitate the rollout of the Affordable Housing Programme. The CS stated that "a team from the Ministry has been sent to all the 47 County Governments to assess the submitted land."
It was resolved among others that: both levels of government form a joint task team to review all sector laws and policies; the Ministry of Lands and Urban planning form a task force comprising of COG, the National Treasury, the Attorney General’s office, and other stakeholders to develop a concept paper and advice on the establishment of the urban development fund and; County Governments to submit an inventory of all illegally allocated public land through the COG to the Ministry of Lands.
In addition, it was agreed that County Governments shall prioritize the allocation of budgets for spatial planning and regularization of allocation of public land; County Governments and the Ministry of Lands shall fast-track planning, surveying, and registration of land in urban areas; and; the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and the COG shall establish an intergovernmental forum to discuss matters of national concern in the sectors.
The Consultative meeting was followed by an induction for the County Executive Committee Members (CECMs) responsible for land, housing, and urban development which took place from 25th to 28th February 2023 at the same venue.