Ichung'wah withdraws Land Laws amendment Bill from Parliament

National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung'wah has written to Speaker Moses Wetangula announcing the withdrawal of the controversial Land Laws (Amendment) (Number 2) Bill, 2023, which sought to impose land rent on freehold land owners and property owners who enjoy free ownership.

In a letter dated June 13, Ichung’wah says there is a myriad of constitutional and legal issues arising from the Bill and "no further consideration of the Bill should be undertaken."

"During the meeting of the House Business Committee, I had notified the Committee not to prioritize the consideration of the Bill to allow for consultations with the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning and the National Land Commission," it reads.

The Majority Leader continues: “…the Executive had further advised on the need for the ensuing issues to be addressed and resolved before further consideration of the Bill.

“Having consulted with the relevant stakeholders, this is now to confirm that the Majority Party has withdrawn the Bill. Consequently, I request that the House Business Committee be notified of the withdrawal of the Bill and that no further consideration of the Bill should be undertaken.”

The Bill, sponsored by Ruiru Member of Parliament Simon King’ara, sought to amend the Land Act of 2012 by inserting a new section immediately after Section 54, which states that the owner of any freehold land within the boundaries of any urban area or city shall pay an annual land levy equivalent to the land rent charged on a comparable leasehold property of the same size in the same zone.

It could give the Lands Cabinet Secretary power to acquire land compulsorily whenever the county or the national government determines a need to acquire a piece of land.

However, experts warned that if enacted, the amendments could see hundreds of Kenyans lose their property to the government.

According to Dr Mwenda Makathimo, the Executive Director of the Land Development and Governance Institute (LDGI), this translates to taxing Kenyans for owning land in urban areas.

“This means the government is charging you a tax for owning freehold land which is not government land. That is what this Act will bring. The land you might have inherited from your parents or land that you might have bought is freehold land," he told Citizen TV.

“Imposing this annual levy on land that is freehold property essentially has the effect of converting freehold property into leasehold property and by that, running the risk of dispossessing many Kenyans who may not afford to pay the levy and this includes Indigenous people whose lands are ancestral," Eva Makori, Acting Regional Coordinator, International Land Coalition (ILC) Africa added.

While Ichung'wah previously claimed that there was no such a Bill, Citizen TV established that the Bill had gone through all the steps at the National Assembly and to the Senate.