Kenyans To Get Govt Approval Before Selling Land
If the Property Control Bill of 2023 becomes law, Kenyans will be required to seek government approval before selling their agricultural property.
The bill proposed by Funyula representative Wilberforce Oundo calls for the appointment of Land Control Committees in each constituency by the Chief Land Register.
The 2011 Urban Areas and Cities Act does not designate agricultural land as a city or urban area.
“The Lands Committee shall review and grant consent to any sale, charge, transfer, grant, exchange for value or no value, lease, assignment, grant of easement or right of way about agricultural land,” the Bill, which is currently in the first reading stage reads.
Notably, the Committee will have the authority to evaluate and approve any land consolidation or subdivision involving agricultural land.
“Unless with the express consent of a Land Control Committee, any transaction affecting agricultural land situated within a land control area shall be void,” the Bill reads.
Neither inherited nor bequeathed land is subject to sanction by the Land Control Committee.
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The Committee will though examine such transactions if the land is to be divided into two or more parcels to be held under separate titles.
Similarly, the Committee will not assess transactions involving National and/or County Governments as parties.
In addition, the Cabinet Secretary for Lands will have the authority to declare urban or city land as agricultural land through a Gazette notice.
The Committee will be comprised of the Chairperson, the Deputy County Commissioner (who will serve as the Committee’s secretary), the Sub-county administrator, two persons (one man and one woman aged sixty years and older), and two other individuals, one of whom must be a juvenile.
The committee members must have demonstrated knowledge and experience in land law, surveying, land administration, or conflict resolution.
Similarly, the Committees will not participate in cases involving Settlement Fund Trustees.
“A person who willfully refuses or neglects to appear before a land control committee commits an offense and shall be liable, upon conviction, to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand shillings or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to both,” part of the Bill reads in part.
Kenyans To Get Govt Approval Before Selling Land
