The National Land Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023

Background

The National Land Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2023 addresses regulatory limitations within the National Land Commission Act, No. 5 of 2012. Originally, the Act restricted the National Land Commission's power to review public land grants and process historical land injustice claims to five-year and ten-year windows following the Act's commencement. Because these statutory periods have elapsed, the Commission has been legally restricted from investigating complaints, reviewing irregular public land allocations, or registering new historical land injustice cases. This Bill aims to restore these powers indefinitely.

Key Amendments

The Bill introduces targeted amendments to the National Land Commission Act, No. 5 of 2012:

• Section 14 (Review of grants and dispositions): Deletes the phrase "within five years of the commencement of this Act" from subsection (1). It also deletes subsection (9), which previously allowed the Commission to petition Parliament to extend the period for undertaking reviews of public land grants.
• Section 15 (Historical land injustices): Deletes paragraph (e) of subsection (3), which required a historical land injustice claim to be brought within five years of the commencement of the Act. Additionally, it deletes subsection (11), which mandated that the provisions of Section 15 would stand repealed within ten years.

New Obligations

• The National Land Commission is authorized to continue admitting, registering, and processing historical land injustice complaints on an ongoing basis without statutory expiration dates.
• The Commission retains the permanent authority to review grants or dispositions of public land, either on its own motion or upon receipt of a complaint from national or county governments, communities, or individuals.

Transitional Provisions

The Bill removes the previous transitional and sunset clauses (the five-year and ten-year limitations), ensuring that the review and historical claim processes remain active indefinitely under the National Land Commission Act, No. 5 of 2012.