This means that where one has set a structure in land which is not approved for that purpose, without legal documents like the lease letter, allotment letter or certificate of registration of titles. It results from homelessness – lack of a place to call home, shelter over one’s head. In Kenya many cases of squatting result from the previous land not being put in place or developed. This is attributed to the existence of an opportunity in the on start of the construction and continuous absence of that person from the land for a long time.
In the Kenya’s History, there have been many cases of squatting in both the public and the private lands in which at the end they resist to move out of that land. For Example, in the water towers of Kenya which are the Cherangani Forests, Mount Kenya’s Forests, Mau Forests and Mount Elgon Forests, there have been a lot of intrusion into them leading the government to move them out by force. This was so evident in the 2011/2012 cases of Mau eviction which still leaves an issue of resettlement in the hands of the government.
This led to the formation of a taskforce by the government to evict them and make their recommendation. This has been the same case experienced by the Okieks which are believed to be driving their livelihoods from the forests in Cherangani, Mau and parts of the Mount Elgon. In the coastal region, the cases of squatter settlement are very common in that most of the lands are allocated to people who are absentees’ landlords/ladies. These allocations, however did not take into account the local residents and in the end they were left as landless living in the
The Term Paper on Land Law in Kenya
An interest in land according to The Registered Land Act Cap 300 is defined as follows: “interest” in land includes absolute ownership of land. According to Black’s Law Dictionary, interest with regard to land law is defined as a legal share in something; all or part of a legal or equitable claim to or right in property that is, right, title, and interest. Collectively, the word includes any ...
Mabrui Belt along the coastal strip. This has also led to the formation of the illegal groups like the Mombasa Republican (MRC) which believe they are championing for the rights of the citizens in the coastal region of Kenya. Most of these displacements have also occurred through the effecting of direct allocations by the commissioner of lands to individuals like in Mtongwe region where serving navy officers have land allocations which has led to resident’s removal in some of its parts.
In the Nairobi region, the issue of squatting is very common in parcels of land which are both private and public but the owner has not developed in cases of private. For the cases of public land, they could be parcels set aside for public premises like schools, police posts, state corporations, land set aside for expansions, undeveloped industrial lands, road reserves, power way leave reserves, Railway reserves, previously forested areas and lands adjacent to big settlements.
The intrusion to the above lands reserves in some cases occurs where one person has entered into that private or public land, settled on it and nobody is stopping him, then increases until the land maybe partly filled or fully occupied like the cases of the Kibera, Mathare, Korogocho, mariguini, mukuru, fuata Nyayo, Sinai, Mutindwa market, Mwaroto(Dandora), Kiang’ombe, Bangladesh among other slums and informal settlements. In most cases the homelessness occurs where one is forcefully evicted from a land where he/she has been squatting and has nowhere to go.
This has been seen in cases like Kiang’ombe, around Wilson airport, and others where they have been evicted through demolitions by city council, owners or even the state corporations like the Kenya Airports Authority without giving them alternative areas for occupation. Figure 1 shows some location of slums within Nairobi area. Source. Syaggah et al (2001: 142) B. The question of squatter and slum upgrading (land acquired by Government, its role, Challenges e. g. corruption and malpractices) The term slum lacks a common definition in that it is complex and varies from one region to another and from one country to another.
The Research paper on Urban Development Growing Slums
India is passing through a phase of rapid urbanization, which has been ushered by general development, industrialization and the huge influx of population from rural to urban areas in search of better economic opportunities. What would precisely be considered as urban development is achieving balanced growth in an urban area with an eye to equity in employment, housing, basic services, social ...
What can be considered a slum in Kenya may not qualify in another country. In the 19th Century it was defined to mean a foul back street of a city, especially one filled with a poor, dirty, degraded and often vicious population; any low neighbourhood or dark retreat-slums which are haunts for thieves (Dickens. The widely used definition is by Cities Alliance Action Plan which means they are neglected parts cities where housing and living conditions are appallingly poor.
They can range from high density, squalid central city tenements to spontaneous squatter settlements without legal recognition or rights, sprawling at the edge of cities. The slums are characterised by lack of basic services (e. g. water, electricity), substantial housing, overcrowding, Squatter and Slum upgrading refers to complex activities done on the land in order to improve the living conditions of the people living in these areas. It ranges from sanitation, shelter, water quality, tenure security, ventilation, The government of Kenya have had the following three main housing policies a.
Laissez – Fraire Policy b. Restictive Policy c. Supportive policy(Mabonguje 1978) In the first policy, the government completely ignored the housing problems but instead concentrated resources on other developments, which considered as economically viable and therefore given priority. The colonial government delineated her from the housing sector and entrusted the sector to the private employers. In the second policy, the government tried a system of discouraging the growth of informal settlements and slums by excluding the communities from essential urban services e. . water, electricity, health facilities, education and sewerage. This is manifested in the slum areas as the absence or inadequacy of urban facilities in the slum settlements. It is also evident in the informality of the electricity, schools in the areas whereby almost all of them are illegal and schools lack facilities as playgrounds and even in swampy/riparian/reserves. It had made assumption that choking the inhabitants of these areas by cutting the facilities off would discourage them as they assumed that these were the centre of attractions.
The Essay on Policy Study on Informal Settlement
... in policy analysis and the policy process. (University of New South Wales) 2. Informal settlement – areas where groups of housing units ... informal settlers is immensely evident in the urban areas. These slums are usually located along the waterways, dump sites, ... of informal settlements. Living in these settlements often poses significant health risks. Access to health and other services may be ...
This assumption was too much to sustain the policy and the informal settlements continued to stretch far and beyond without urban services. It further extended to re-allocation programmes or complete demolition of illegal structures on short notice like the Mutindwa market in Donholm, Kiangombe in Mombasa road and Slums around the Wilson Airport. The third policy was adopted after the failure of the past two to which it is better realized in involvement of the community in the alleviation of housing problems.
This is one of the Non-conventional housing policies as it embraces the provision of complete housing unit but rather a combination of processes which include: i. Provision of care housing as demonstration units ii. Self-help approaches which incorporate community participation iii. Provision of infrastructural services on plots to be developed iv. Regularization of tenure to enable squatter settlements to invest more on their housing needs v. Improvement/upgrading of shelter and infrastructure of already existing informal settlements Under this policy the government provided land and urban services e. . the road network, electricity, water supply, security lighting, drainage, etc. while the housing consumers are expected to mobilize their own resource so as to construct their houses. This made the beginning of the site and service schemes in Kenya in areas like Umoja in Nairobi, Chaani in Mombasa, Migosi in Kisumu (Okal, S. O 2000).
However this policy has a great weakness in that the middle and high income earners tend to outbid the low income earners since they can complete the construction of their houses much faster.
Most of these site and service schemes have ended up in the hands of middle income group. C. Tenure and its influence on squatter slum/upgrading – Kenya approaches necessary The term tenure refers to a form of ownership that one is accorded in terms of title deed or certificate of lease. One achieves the various forms of ownership after passing through the various processes of registration. It starts from developing of a area use plan, Local Physical Development Plan (LPDP), Physical Development Plan (PDP), surveying,
