Land Rights at the Center: Kenya Directs Agribusiness Kakuzi to Return 3,200 Acres After Historic Abuses

Human Rights Research Center
23 minutes ago
3 min read

December 1, 2025

HRRC urges authorities to implement the NLC decision in a fully victim-centered manner, ensuring the restoration of ancestral land and accountability for past abuses. We advise the government to safeguard community rights by preventing corporate interference in processes meant to deliver long-denied justice.

From left to right; Kakuzi PLC board chair, Nicholas Ng'ang'a, independent director, Pamela Ager, managing director, Chris Flowers and factory manager, Susan Njenga at the 96th AGM held at the Serena Hotel, Nairobi on Tuesday, May 14 2024. [Image source: Nairobi Business Monthly]

Kenya’s National Land Commission (NLC) has directed Kakuzi PLC to surrender 3,200 acres to communities, alleging historical land injustices. This decision has been welcomed by rights groups but criticised for major gaps in addressing systemic abuses committed against local communities over many years. The ruling, issued on November 14, 2025, requires land redistribution, inspection of vulnerable claimants, regularization of public utilities and relocation of schools and facilities.

Kakuzi, one of Kenya’s largest agribusinesses, has challenged the directive, warning investors of “material risk” to operations and claiming the order threatens constitutionally protected property rights. The firm argues that surrendering land could weaken the rights of its 3,400 employees and 1,400 shareholders and has promised to pursue all legal options.

Communities represented by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) and the Ndula Resource Centre say the decision is only a partial victory, noting the NLC dismissed nine key claims and failed to address expired leases (contracts), historical evictions and decades of alleged abuses including rape, killings and forced migration of people from their homes by Kakuzi security guards. They say the solution must be to return people to their original ancestral land, not to move them to new places.

The conflict over land rights began long ago when colonial settlers (primarily British) took the land from local communities between 1902 and 1966. Because Kakuzi has not given back important land documents, many schools, clinics and public offices built on that land still don’t have legal ownership papers. The NLC’s directive also forces the company to open access roads, formalize earlier transfers and provide new land for urban development.

This case is fundamentally a human rights issue because communities allege long-term violations including forced displacement, denial of land rights, physical violence, sexual abuse and deprivation of access to education, healthcare and development. Land justice is tied to dignity, safety, livelihood and cultural survival, making state accountability essential.

Glossary

Accountability – being responsible for your actions and facing consequences when you do wrong.
Claimants – people who make a complaint or demand something they believe is owed to them.
Colonial settlers – people from foreign countries who took land and settled in places during the colonial era.
Constitutionally – in a way that agrees with the country’s constitution or main law.
Cultural survival – a community’s ability to keep its traditions, identity and way of life alive.
Deprivation – when people are kept from getting things they need, like land, rights or basic services.
Evictions – when people are forced out of their homes or land.
Forced displacement – when people are made to leave their homes against their will.
Forced migration – when people must move to a new place because of violence, threats or hardship.
Formalize – to officially record or complete something so it becomes legal.
Leases – legal agreements that allow someone to use land or property for a set period of time.
Systemic abuses – mistreatment or harm that happens repeatedly because it is built into a system or institution.
Urban development – building towns, roads, markets and other structures to improve a city or community.
Victim-centered manner – focusing on the needs, safety and rights of victims first when making decisions.

References

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Land Rights at the Center: Kenya Directs Agribusiness Kakuzi to Return 3,200 Acres After Historic Abuses

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