9. Land Control Act (Cap 302), 1967

The law provides for control of land transactions relating to agricultural land by requiring consent from the Land Control Boards.

Quick Link: http://kenyalaw.org:8181/exist/kenyalex/actview.xql?actid=CAP.%20302

· This law was initially passed in December 1967 for the purpose of controlling transactions relating to agricultural land.

· It provides that the Minister (Cabinet Secretary) may apply the Act to any area and shall establish a land control board for various areas.

· Section 6 lists the various transactions affecting agricultural land that are affected by the law and which have obtained the approval/consent of the Land Control Board of the respective area. These transactions are: sale, transfer, lease, mortgage, exchange, partition, subdivision or disposal/dealing in any agricultural land in a land control area; issue, sale, transfer, mortgage or any disposal or dealing in any share of a private company or cooperative society which owns agricultural land situated in a land control area; and division of any agricultural land into two or more parcels to be held under separate titles. The only exceptions to these provisions are: the transmission of land by virtue of a will or intestacy unless the transmission results in subdivisions and a transaction to which the government is a party.

· Section 8 provides that application for the Land Control Board consent is to be made within 6 months of the making of a sale agreement though the Court may extend this period where there are good reasons for so doing.

· Under section 9 of the Act, the land control board may refuse consent in any case where the land or share in the land is to be disposed off to a non-Kenyan citizen, private company or cooperative society owned by non-Kenyan citizens, a state corporation or group representatives; where the terms and conditions of the transaction including the price of the land are markedly unfair or disadvantageous to one of the parties; and where the transaction involves subdivision that will result into reduced productivity of the land.

· Refusal of consent by the land control board voids any transaction that is made without such approval and upon any time set for appealing against the decision. This time can however be extended upon application.

· The land control boards are decentralized and are in nearly each locality where the members of the boards normally sit on a monthly basis.

· Section 24 of the Act however affords the President unlimited powers to exempt any land or share in land from any or all provisions of the Act. This is a carryover of the imperial powers that the Presidency exercised under the former land law regimes. The Act also refers to ‘Minister’ and ‘Provincial Land Control Boards’ which is a nomenclature used in the former constitutional regime. This speaks to the need to update and modernize the law. In this regard, there is a Land Control Bill 2023 currently in Parliament (see below).

· In summary, while the law seeks to prevent cases of wanton conversion of agricultural land into other uses including construction as well as sale and subdivisions (as has largely happened even in areas adjoining urban areas), the law also adds to costs and time taken in approving of transactions.