200805081218 | Kenyan land reform to be a priority in new constitution.

Kenyan land reform to be a priority in new constitution.

Nairobi - Kenyan land reform must precede a long awaited new constitution, a government minister said on Wednesday, underlining the need to address disputes that helped fuel deadly post-election violence.

Under the terms of a power-sharing deal that ended the crisis in February, Kenya's former political rivals are supposed to craft a constitution to resolve rifts over power and wealth exposed by President Mwai Kibaki contested re-election.
But Lands Minister James Orengo, formerly a senior opposition figure, told reporters a wide-ranging national lands review by legislators would have to take place first.

"If we want a new constitution in place within 8-12 months it would be useless to have that national policy document resolved in parliament any time after the next 60 to 90 days," Orengo said at the close of a civil society workshop.

People uprooted by ethnic attacks

Historical disputes over land tenure, inherited from the British colonial administration, have been a source of conflict in the east African country since independence in 1963.

During the post-election violence at the start of this year, some 300 000 people were uprooted by riots and ethnic attacks that killed more than 1 s200 others.

The resettlement of many of those families began in earnest this week, but has been hampered by bickering in parliament over what nature the planned land reforms will take.

Orengo said the government's current Land Act had been widely abused in the past, with corrupt officials doling out public land to individuals "as if it was just popcorn".

The national review was the crucial next step, he said.

"Without resolving the question of land and the conflicts that arise perennially, it was felt that the problems... just after the elections and before are likely to re-occur."