http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9699-2870
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Abstract
This paper explores changing values of land and title deeds through a case study of the Langas land dispute in Eldoret, a secondary city of about 300,000 people in Kenya's Rift Valley. Spanning Kenya's postcolonial history and taking place in the context of rapid urbanization, the Langas land dispute is emblematic of the complexity and persistence of land matters in the country. Based on ethnographic data collected between 2014 and 2016, this paper traces actors in the conflict, showing how the disputed area developed from a farm in the so-called White Highlands to Eldoret's largest informal settlement. The case study suggests that legal documents have gained significance in the past few decades, but it also shows that title deeds are deeply ambiguous. Sometimes respected for their ‘sanctity’, sometimes contested because of alleged forgery, title deeds have become the object of popular fantasy, conveying hopes and dreams of a better future. While land titles are assumed to enhance security of tenure and eradicate multiple ownership claims, I argue that they add layers of complexity to the repertoires actors mobilize to support or contest claims and that they thus expand the ways in which land can be valued.
Cet article examine le changement des valeurs foncières et des titres de propriété à travers une étude de cas du litige foncier de Langas à Eldoret, une ville secondaire d’environ 300 000 personnes située dans la Vallée du Rift, au Kenya. Couvrant toute la période post-coloniale et ayant lieu dans un contexte d’urbanisation rapide, le litige foncier de Langas est emblématique de la complexité et de la persistance des questions foncières au Kenya. En s'appuyant sur des données ethnographiques récoltées entre 2014 et 2016, cet article reconstitue les perspectives des différents acteurs du conflit, et montre comment la zone contestée, autrefois exploitation agricole des ‘White Highlands’, est devenue le plus grand quartier informel d’Eldoret. L’étude de cas suggère que les documents légaux ont gagné de l’importance au cours des dernières décennies, mais elle démontre aussi l’ambiguïté profonde des titres fonciers. Parfois respectés pour leur ‘inviolabilité’, parfois contestés du fait des nombreux cas de falsification, les titres de propriété font désormais partie de l’imaginaire populaire, véhiculant des espoirs et des rêves d’un avenir meilleur. Alors que les titres de propriété sont supposés renforcer la sécurité foncière et mettre fin aux revendications multiples, j’affirme dans cet article qu’ils complexifient plutôt les répertoires mobilisés par les acteurs du conflit pour appuyer ou contester des revendications. Ainsi, j'estime que les titres fonciers élargissent et diversifient les façons dont les valeurs foncières sont perçues et attribuées.
Acknowledgements
The author’s special thanks go to the research participants in Eldoret, who shared their knowledge and experience to make this study possible. She is grateful to Catherine Boone, Cherry Leonardi, the participants of the workshop Valuing Land in East Africa, the members of the research group Political Anthropology at the University of Basel, and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on previous versions of this paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
ORCID
Miriam Badoux http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9699-2870
Notes
1 An exception to this trend is the literature on the phenomenon of ‘land grabbing’ – i.e. the irregular privatization of public land (see Klopp Citation2000; Manji Citation2017).
2 This is notably due to the fact that Eldoret – the stronghold of William Ruto, the current deputy president – has been the central investigation site of the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the 2008 postelection violence, leading to widespread suspicion towards Western researchers, who are often perceived as associated with the ICC.
3 Due to the city's history, customary authorities have never been strong in postcolonial Eldoret, notably because they were ‘downgraded if not eliminated’ by the settler economy (Musyoka Citation2004, 3).
4 For example, a plot bought in an upmarket neighbourhood for KES 350,000 in 2008 was valued at KES 5.5 m in 2015 (15 times more within seven years).
5 The municipality ceased to exist with the introduction of devolution reforms in 2013 and has been replaced by the county government of Uasin Gishu.
6 The term ‘residents’ – used by the actors themselves – is somewhat misleading since a majority of the plot holders actually live in other parts of town and lease houses on the plot they own in Langas.
7 With a focus on informal land delivery, Musyoka (Citation2004, Citation2006) has also looked at the case of the Langas neighbourhood. In her texts, however, she only presents the version of the history of Langas told by the ‘residents’ and the shareholders, according to which the farm was initially purchased by a cooperative.
8 For the sake of anonymity, all the names used in this paper are fictitious.
9 While I was in the field, rumours circulated that if Lagat were to be compensated with billions, he would have to share the amount with politicians or well-connected people who might have supported and advised him in the court case.
10 The Nandi are a sub-entity of the Kalenjin ethnic group.
11 A letter kept by Atebe, dating back from 2002, states that:
We are pleased to inform you that we have now received from the relevant Government authorities the final documents that will enable us issue you with your title document. To this end, herewith enclosed please find our fee note which should be settled promptly to enable us to finalize this long-standing matter.
While some residents paid the fee note, they never got their titles.
12 According to the official land registry, Langas is owned only by the two first buyers, as stated on the title deed.
13 It is important to emphasize that the planner's statement is not necessarily representative of the government's position in the trial. Since the state is a rather incoherent set of sub-entities, it would be misleading to reduce its position to the planner's view only. The defendants in court included representatives of several administrative units both at the local and national levels.
14 Land transactions usually take place before they are officially sanctioned by the land control board, which increases the risks of the transaction and the importance of trust between buyers and sellers.
15 In the Kenyan context, an ‘official search’ is an administrative procedure aimed at establishing who is the registered owner of a plot of land (among other information). Due to rampant fraud in land matters, one is supposed to undertake this procedure before buying land.
16 In Eldoret, ‘land agents’ are land dealers or brokers operating at more or less formal levels.
17 Fake title deeds and duplicates are a major problem in Kenya and can even be seen as a constitutive part of the national imagination. On forgery and land documentation in Kenya, see Onoma (Citation2010).
18 This trend towards informal subdivision and urbanization was reinforced by the decay of urban public housing schemes, which made it increasingly difficult to access urban land through official channels. Against this background, informal land delivery became the norm rather than the exception (Musyoka Citation2004; Olima and Obala Citation1999).
19 Quoted in a newspaper article by Fred Kibor in The Standard on 13 January 2018: https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001265771/eldoret-court-awards-two-families-sh4-5b-for-illegal-acquisition-of-their-land (last accessed February 2, 2018, my emphasis).
20 The high number of lawyers in Eldoret in general and the fact that most of their work is related to land matters confirms this increased importance of the law.
21 The case of Langas shows that this informality is widely tolerated by at least some state institutions and even produced by them, thus inviting us to challenge the formal–informal divide. As put by Roy (Citation2005, 149), ‘informality must be understood not as the object of state regulation but rather as produced by the state itself’.
22 The contested dimension of title deeds can be compared to Kelly’s (Citation2006) description of the ‘uncertainty’ of identity documents in Palestine, which, rather than resulting in more clarity, led to arbitrariness and unpredictability.