§ 79. Mr. Wallasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will make a statement about land tenure in the African reserves and White Highlands in Kenya.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodMy right hon. Friend told the House on 22nd April that the policy of the Kenya Government would be to aim at the progressive abolition of racial and tribal land barriers, and that the basis of management and tenure of all agricultural land would be similar, so far as local economic and agronomic factors permit.
The enactment of the Native Lands Registration Ordinance and Land Control (Native Lands) Ordinance has since conferred freehold title by registration upon all Africans who held customary rights amounting to full ownership, and set up a system of Divisional and Provincial Control Boards to prevent fragmentation and undesirable transactions in the native lands. The Sessional Paper recently presented to the Legislative Council contains proposals to extend the 33W new policy to all land in the rest of Kenya. I have placed copies of the Paper in the Library, and I commend it to the careful study of hon. Members.