10.0 LAND, HOUSING AND SETTLEMENT

10.1 Land

The DP believes that land is one of the fundamental assets of production, others being labour and capital. It is not only a fundamental factor of production but also fixed in size and therefore requires proper planning to get maximum returns in view of the fact that availability of productive land is a constraint. Land resources form the foundation upon which all industrial, agricultural, forestry, wildlife, environment, infrastructure and other socio-economic activities are built. As a fixed resource and a source of all natural resources, it requires a clear land use policy which is comprised of laws, rules, regulations and practices that govern the rights and obligations of landowners together with appropriate guidelines to ensure optimum utilization of available land which in ASAL is used by ranchers, semi pastoralists, and pastoralists on rangelands. Inorder to get maximum return from land, it must be planned, surveyed, adjudicated and registered with a view to issuing title deeds to ensure tenure security. The tenure security encourages people to invest in their land with resultant higher incomes, increased productivity, general rise in economic growth and improved standards of living. In order to improve land use the DP Government will implement the following strategies:

1. Develop a proactive land redistribution system

2. Develop and adopt an integrated land use policy with special reference to agronomics;

3. Review the various Acts of Parliament that regulate land allocation;

4. Develop an efficient market for land and land rentals especially the leasing of land;

5. Trace and repossess all irregularly acquired public lands, regardless of developments therein and cause the allotee to pay the state for the market value of the land;

6. Identify, carry out any inventory all existing land disputes and put in place an efficient and effective dispute resolution mechanism;

7. Address the issue of absentee landlords; and

8. Computerize records on land and ownership

10.2 Water

Water harvesting, storage and conservation will be a prime objective of the Government. The aim will be to provide adequate water for industry, livestock and clean drinking water for the people. Inorder to attain these objectives, the Government will implement the following objectives:

1. Develop dams on all our rivers

2. Develop mechanism to harvest all rain water including roof top waters

3. Utilize fully Lake Victoria water

4. Rehabilitate Nairobi river

5. Ensure all our people have clean, safe, drinking water

6. Endeavour to raise the availability of clean drinking water to 100% in both rural urban centres by 2012.

10.3 Housing and Settlement

Housing and settlement are basic human needs. Housing provides privacy and sound economic activities for improved quality of life. Over 70% of the poor and 80% of the non-poor live in rented houses in the urban areas, while 95% of the rural poor and 83.5% of the non-poor own houses in the areas. In the urban centers, 47 percent of people live in the informal settlements which are characterized with high level of insecurity, crime and high level of unemployment. Informal settlements are as a result of high cost of building which makes it impossible for poor people to afford putting up their own houses. Those living in informal settlements should be relocated and be assisted to develop appropriate housing. One of the major problems affecting both informal and formal settlements is lack of socio and physical infrastructure.

In order to meet the shelter, challenges of housing and settlement, the DP Government will implement the following strategies:

1. Acquire land for the development of housing for low income groups.

2. Research and commercialize building technologies

3. Encourage private developers to participate in the promotion of shelter development.

4. Improve both social and physical infrastructure in the housing and settlement areas with special reference to water, electricity, telecommunications, socio amenities and roads among others.

5. Review the existing By-laws and Regulations and particularly security of tenure and ensure the by-laws are enforced to avoid illegal structures.

6. Design innovative ways of financing housing and human settlement.

7. Settle all the squatters living in formal settlements and provide them with security of tenure.

8. Develop infrastructure including electricity, water and other social amenities in rural towns inorder to attract investments

9. Develop a National Housing Policy that will guarantee access to housing for all.

10. Review and amend the 1968 Building Code and fast track current innovation and technologies aimed at reducing building construction costs without compromising safety and standards