Wings of Empowering Pastoralists (WEP) - Kenya
- Kenya
- Resources
- Business Services
- Access to Land
- Access to Land
Quick information guide
Matrimonial Property Act, 2013 has provisions on:
Equal status of spouses (Section 4)
A married women has the same rights as a married man:
- to acquire, administer, hold, control, use and dispose of property whether movable or immovable;
- to enter into a contract; and
- to sue and be sued in her own name.
Special provisions on Matrimonial property (Section 12)
- Matrimonial property cannot be sold, leased or mortgaged during a monogamous marriage without the consent of both spouses (See section 12(1));
- Spouses in marriages, including the man and any of the man’s wives in the case of a polygamous marriage, have an interest in matrimonial property capable of protection by caveat, caution or any law in force on registration of title deeds;
Divorce or dissolution of polygamous marriage:
Matrimonial property act (Section 8) clarifies:
- Matrimonial property acquired by the man after the man marries another wife shall be regarded as owned by the man and the wives taking into account any contributions made by the parties;
- it is possible for a wife to hold her matrimonial property with the husband separate from that of the other wives; any wife can own matrimonial property equally with the husband without the participation of the other wife or wives.
Read more
Access to land
Women in Kenya have access to land but lack control over it, this in turn stops them from using title deeds as a form of collateral when seeking financing for their businesses.
This challenge limits the improvement of their economic status. Kenya has undertaken legal reforms that will help women acquire property.
Women can now buy and register land individually and they can inherit land from their parents and husbands because of the matrimonial property act.
In 2018 the Kenya Land Alliance disaggregated and analyzed 1,000,099 out of the about 3,200,000 title deeds issued by the Government of Kenya from 2013 to 2017.
In this audit, KLA found out that only 103,043 titles representing 10.3 percent were issued to women while 865,095 titles representing 86.5 percent went to men.
In terms of hectares, out of 10,129,704 ha of land titled; women got 163,253 ha representing a paltry 1.62 percent, while men got 9,903,304 ha representing 97.76 percent.
Read more
Wings of Empowering Pastoralists (WEP)
Registered in 2018, WEP is a charitable organization that aims to develop the economic and social livelihoods of pastoral indigenous communities. Its mission is to address the main causes of discrimination, social exclusion, marginalization and poverty that affects marginalized peoples’ rights to livelihood, basic human rights and healthy environment.
Land-Based COMMONS Approach
With the local community and local authorities as the target group, WEP in collaboration with its stakeholders hold focus group discussions in Karare, Marsabit to discuss the opportunities of land-based COMMONS approach. This approach is resource centered and is focused on equitable access to the existing resources by all the users of area. Users in this case consider both human and non-humans i.e. the local community, neighboring communities, wildlife, flora and fauna.
Other Programs
Capacity Building on Climate Change
WEP in partnership PAN African Climate Justice Alliance organize a climate change capacity building workshops. The main area of discussion include how effective climate change governance is when there is synergy and coordination among civil societies. This is in order to engage and advocate for a transparent, accountable, participatory, and equity in the climate change governance process and to ensure there will be inclusive participation of all the key stakeholders.
Women Empowerment Forum (WEF)
WEP provides a platform for discussion to explore ways in which women enterprises such as livestock sales, dairy milk sales, vegetable sales and beadworks through formation of groups and partnership among themselves.
Contacts
Wings of Empowering Pastoralists
Marsabit-Kenya.
Phone: +254 721385838