On Wednesday February 27 2013, The Standard newspaper reported that Jubilee presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta and his CORD counterpart Raila Odinga faced an acid test as they confronted land issues that have dogged their presidential bids. During the presidential debate on Monday night, the two candidates were hard pressed to defend themselves against accusations over alleged land impropriety. Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua kicked off the storm when she stood by her campaign attack on Uhuru as unable to champion land reforms, given that his family owns land "the size of half the country" when many Kenyans are landless. Uhuru maintained that although it was true that the Kenyatta family owned huge tracts of land, the same was legally acquired in a willing seller-willing buyer basis. The emotive land debate and distribution of resources often surface every election year. And in that regard, 2013 has not been an exception. The CORD team has publicly dismissed Uhuru as unable to oversee land reforms because his family is among the largest land owners. On the other hand, Uhuru's team has challenged Raila to come clean over his family's acquisition of the Kisumu Molasses plant. The land issue prompted the National Cohesion and Integration Commission boss Mzalendo Kibunjia and the Inspector General of Police David Kimaiyo to warn politicians to exercise caution.

Commentary:

The land problem has always been emotive the world over and Kenya is no exception. Capitalism exacerbated the problem by failing to solve the land distribution problem through a fraudulent system of willing buyer-willing seller whereby only the rich could access vast tracts of land mostly through corrupt deals.  Add to it colonialism which made summary acquisitions of land in prime areas and designated it as crown land for British colonies rendering the local owners as landless. On gaining ‘Independence', the elite accessed these lands through grabbing while the poor who fought the colonialists became squatters on their own land!  Since the land was not acquired as a source of production, most of it has remained idle specifically for speculative purposes. As wealth circulates exclusively among the rich in this greedy Capitalistic system, the poor are deprived access to wealth leading to inability to own property. No wonder land has become an explosive issue that unfortunately has led to many lives being lost.

Islam solves the land problem through elaborate Shariah rules that define how ownership is achieved. If a person owns farming land but he cannot use it, then the State may help him or he has to give it to another person to utilize it. If he does not do this and neglects it for three years, the State will confiscate it from him and grant it to someone else. It is narrated by Yahya Ibn Adam in the book of Al-Kharaj that Bilal ibn al-Harith was granted a large piece of land by the Prophet (saw). When Umar became Khalifah, he asked Bilal to retain the part he could utilize and return the one he could not utilize. Bilal refused but Umar confiscated it and distributed it among Muslims. It is quite clear that the person who owns farming land but cannot plant upon it and neglects it for three years will have it taken from him by the State and given to another person to enhance wealth distribution.

Kassim Agessa

Member of Hizb ut Tahrir/ East Africa Media Office