Determinants of Land Owners Perception on Compulsory Land Acquisition by Government for Project Implementation: a Case of Imenti South Sub County, Kenya

Abstract

Land must be provided for investments such as roads, railways, hospitals, schools among others. For instance, over the last six years, there has been a tremendous development of infrastructure projects in virtually all corners of Kenya in form of road improvement, water and sewerage improvement projects and the electricity transmission improvement projects as envisioned in the Kenya vision 2030. These projects have therefore forced the government to acquire private property compulsorily for implementation of the projects. Therefore, compulsory acquisition of land is the power of government to acquire private rights in land without the willing consent of its owner in order to benefit society. Therefore this study established the determinants of land owners‘ perception on government‘s compulsory land acquisition. The study focused on the following objectives; To assess how land owners‘ awareness on the legislation, how involvement of land owners, how social cultural factors and timing of compensation determines their perception on compulsory land acquisition by government for project implementation. The study employed descriptive survey design which allowed the researcher to generate both numerical and descriptive data. The target population of this study was all the 683 land owners affected by Meru – Marimba - Nkubu –Mitunguu road project. This study employed stratified random sampling and 202 land owners were selected. This study used the questionnaire and focus group discussions instruments to collect data. The study found out that there was a weak negative relationship between land owners‘ awareness on the legislation on compulsory land acquisition (-0.015) as well as social cultural factors determining perception of land owners (-0.028). The study also found out that more than half (57.3%) of the landowners were not aware of the legislation of compulsory land acquisition. The study recommended that land owners should be involved in the entire land acquisition process, right from the planning, to the negotiation and the implementation. This will ensure that both parties are well represented and their demand and needs are well taken care of without exploiting either side of the negotiation