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“I find this proposal one sided and ill advised. It is not attainable. We are already paying so much tax! Why tax empty land? What about if one wants to maintain natural ecosystem say want to plant a forest? The policy makers need to rethink outside the box,” comments George on the proposal based on Article 68 C (1), Parliament shall (c) enact legislation— (i) to prescribe minimum and maximum land holding acreages in respect of private land. For Kenya to emerge from begging food and donations from countries who manage their resources even under extreme weather patterns that shut down land from production, Kenyans should no longer allow anyone to legally hold hundreds or thousands of acres through private leasehold titles. The strategic food reserves should never be empty at any given year.

The constitution defines private land in Article 64: (a) registered land held by any person under any freehold tenure; (b) land held by any person under leasehold tenure; and (c) any other land declared private land under an Act of Parliament. The constitution states that Article 68 C (1) legislating minimum and maximum land holding acreages in respect of private land be passed by February 2012.

Proposal Summary
The proposal below would lead to Kenya land sustaining the 40 million Kenyans with enough food and further ensuring food increases as population increases to 50 million in next 10 years and thereafter.     

Private land Article 64: (a) registered land held by any person under any freehold tenure;
No minimum 
Maximum 30 acres maximum 

Private land Article 64: (b) land held by any person under leasehold tenure;
Minimum 50 acres
No maximum.
Kshs 10,000 an acre lease rate.
1 person employed for every 10 acres applied for lease.
5 years grace period

Private land Article 64: (c) any other land declared private land under an Act of Parliament.
No minimum or maximum
Enacted through the Private Act passed by parliament
Terms based on case to case basis as approved through parliament   

Debating Comments

I find this proposal one sided and ill advised.
The proposal is indeed one sided as tied to land efficiency use to sustain 40 million Kenyans and ensure that this keeps growing with population growth. Unfortunately the other side would like to hold thousands of acres to just be able to say I own thousand of acres. If in the newspaper pieces of 50 acres and above were identified and the Land Commissioner advertised for Kenyans to apply for leasehold under terms proposed, there would be Kenyans applying for these lands and 1,000,000 acres made up of pieces of 50 acres to 1,000 acres could be applied in one week and in 5 years the land would be paying Kshs 10 billion and the land would be employing a minimum of 100,000 Kenyans.      

We are already paying too much tax.   
The number one reason Kenyans are paying high taxes is low production and high imports. The proposal would increase food production and by doing so reduce the food prices and taxes. If one wants to do business in 100 acres of land they should be ready to pay the government Kshs 1 million every year and employ 10 people after the grace period of 5 years or have leasehold cancelled. Note even in freehold land, a tax based on Constitution Article 209. Clause (3) A county may impose— (a) property rates, will still be imposed once County governments are in place. If a County Assembly passes a bill of 5% property tax this would mean 30 acres (maximum acreage proposed) if the county that is assessed for a value of Kshs 500,000 an acre would pay a property tax of 5% of Kshs 15 million or Kshs 750,000 an year.

It is not attainable.
The constitution defined private land in Article 64: as (a) registered land held by any person under any freehold tenure; (b) land held by any person under leasehold tenure; and (c) any other land declared private land under an Act of Parliament. The constitution then in Article 68 C (1) stated, Parliament shall (c) enact legislation— (i) to prescribe minimum and maximum land holding acreages in respect of private land. The constitution then ordered this clause to be enacted in 18 months that is February 2012. The legislation will be passed and there will be a minimum and maximum holding acreage in respect to land ownership for private land.   

Why tax empty land?
The question here should be: Why own land if you will not use it? The proposal makes sure someone driving from Nairobi to Mombasa who suddenly sees a stretch of land that is empty and has an idea they want to implement would immediately know the next stop is the lands office to apply for leasehold. All empty land over 50 acres at any given time would be held as public land by land commission office based on this proposal.

What about if one want to maintain natural ecosystem say want to plant a forest?
The forest would have to be legislated based on Article 64 of private land (c) any other land declared private land under an Act of Parliament.  In our proposal no Minimum or Maximum was suggested.

The policy makers need to rethink outside the box  
The term, “Think outside the box,” need not apply. Kenyans need to follow the constitution, think of the best way to sustain themselves and make proposals on the maximum and minimum acreage holding of private land as per constitution article 68 clause C (1).