A row over who owns Kenya’s land is making life hard for foreign firms

MANY KENYANS still resent the British colonists who once ruled them, an attitude their schools encourage. The colonists bilked the natives of choice land and ruthlessly suppressed the Mau Mau rebellion, a land-related insurgency waged against them in the 1950s.

Land grievances remain a powerful undercurrent in Kenyan politics today. At independence in 1963 the departing British set aside money to buy back land in the “White Highlands”, which had been reserved for settlers, and redistribute it among land-hungry Africans. Though many benefited, much of the land went to those with political connections. The family of Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta, was among the biggest winners. The politicians, however, were happy to let foreign companies own big tea and coffee plantations, so long as they got seats on the board and a share of the profits. The colonists had turned tea and coffee into mainstays of the economy; it was too risky to hand over all the big estates to cronies.

In the past land in Kenya was less explosive an issue than in some other African countries. In Zimbabwe and South Africa white farmers owned a far greater share of the best land, making them a visible sign of racial inequality and historical injustice, as well as an easy target for populist politicians. In Kenya this was not the case.

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