ADVOKS GLOBAL · KENYA
Land Act
12. Allocation of public land
Edition: 2025-11-04 · In force
12. Allocation of public land
(1)Whenever the national or county government is satisfied that it may be necessary to allocate the whole or part of a specific public land, the Cabinet Secretary or the County Executive Committee member responsible for matters relating to land shall submit a request to the Commission for the necessary action by way of—(a)public auction to the highest bidder at prevailing market value subject to and not less than the reserved price;(b)application confined to a targeted group of persons or groups in order to ameliorate their disadvantaged position;(c)public notice of tenders as it may prescribe;(d)public drawing of lots as may be prescribed;(e)public request for proposals as may be prescribed; or(f)public exchanges of equal value as may be prescribed.(2)The Commission shall ensure that any public land that has been identified for allocation does not fall within any of the following categories—(a)public land that is subject to erosion, floods, earth slips or water logging;(b)public land that falls within forest and wild life reserves, mangroves, and wetlands or fall within the buffer zones of such reserves or within environmentally sensitive areas;(c)public land that is along watersheds, river and stream catchments, public water reservoirs, lakes, beaches, fish landing areas riparian and the territorial sea as may be prescribed;(d)public land that has been reserved for security, education, research and other strategic public uses as may be prescribed; and(e)natural, cultural, and historical features of exceptional national value falling within public lands;(g)any other land categorized as such, by the Commission, by an order published in the Gazette.(3)Subject to Article 65 of the Constitution, the Commission shall upon the request of the national or a county government set aside land for investment purposes.(4)In fulfilling the requirements of subsection (3), the Commission shall ensure that the investments in the land benefit local communities and their economies.(5)Subject to the Constitution and any other law, the Commission may, in consultation with the National and county governments, allocate land to foreign governments on a reciprocal basis in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.(6)At the expiry, termination or extinction of a lease granted to a non-citizen, reversion of interests or rights in and over the land shall vest in the national or county government as the case may be.(7)Public land shall not be allocated unless it has been planned, surveyed and serviced and guidelines for its development prepared in accordance with section 17 of this Act.(8)Public land allocated under this section shall not be sold, disposed off, subleased, or subdivided unless it is developed for the purpose for which it was allocated.(9)Where the land allocated under subsection (8) is not developed in accordance with the terms and conditions stipulated in the lease, that land shall automatically revert back to the national or county government, as the case may be and the Commission shall include in its annual report the status of implementation of this subsection.(10)In an allocation of public land under this section, the Commission may impose any terms, covenants, stipulations and reservations that the Commission considers advisable, including—(a)that the applicant shall personally occupy and reside on the land for a period set by the Commission;(b)the applicant shall do such work and spend such money for permanent improvement of the public land within the period specified by the Commission; or(c)the consideration that must be paid for a disposition of public land.(11)The Commission shall make regulations prescribing the criteria for allocation and for connected matters.(12)The Commission shall make regulations prescribing the criteria for allocation of public land and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, such regulations may prescribe—(a)forms of ownership and access to land under all tenure systems;(b)the procedure and manner of setting aside land for investments;(c)procedures to be followed with respect to auction and disposition of land;(d)appropriate mechanisms for repossession of land given to citizens at the expiry of a lease; and(e)mechanisms of benefit sharing with local communities whose land have been set aside for investment.(13)A public body or institution shall apply to the Registrar for registration of public land allocated by the Commission in the prescribed form.(14)The Registrar shall register public land allocated to a public body or institution by the Commission.(15)Pursuant to section 58 and paragraph 7 of the Third Schedule to the Physical and Land Use Planning Act (Cap. 303), the Registrar shall register land set aside by persons or a land buying company for a public purpose consequent upon a proposed development.(16)Upon registration of land under subsections (14) and (15), the Registrar shall publish a notice in the Gazette specifying the particulars of the registration and issue a certificate of title—(a)in the case of an incorporated public entity, the certificate of title shall be issued in the name of the entity;(b)in the case of an unincorporated public entity, the Cabinet Secretary to the National Treasury as trustee; and(c)in the case of a county government, in the name of the county government.