The Dynamics of Land Tenure System and Its Contribution to Violent Conflicts in Nairobi Informal Settlements: a Case Study of Soweto East In Kibera

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Abstract:

Land issues in Kenya are a significant reason for structural conflicts and potentially degenerate into physical violence often. Many civil wars in the country can be attributed to land issues owing to its emotive nature. The conflicts have consequently led to loss of life, material goods destruction, and thousands of residents being displaced. The insecure land tenure system in Kenya is caused by impunity and corruption which are supported interest groups with political affiliations. This study aimed at establishing how land tenure systems in informal settlements of Nairobi contribute to violent conflicts, it also aimed at understanding how tenure system governs land ownership, occupancy and user rights in informal settlement, also help in examining how secure is informal settlement tenure and what avenues the slum dwellers have in defending their rights and also assessing how insecure tenure and failure to protect one community rights leads to violent conflicts in Soweto East and what can be done to avert the violence. The study used interviews to collect qualitative raw data for analysis. After the analysis it was concluded that lack of good governance, corruption, ethnicity, unfair compensation, unplanned evictions for instance due to slum upgrading is faced with a lot of resistance from the slum dwellers and this leads to violent conflicts. Governance theory was used to show the connections between land governance and tenure security whereby top down and bottom top approach were used.

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The Dynamics of Land Tenure System and Its Contribution to Violent Conflicts in Nairobi Informal Settlements: a Case Study of Soweto East In Kibera

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