Nairobi, Feb. 1 -- The current government committed to purchase land and settle the landless once in office. This is a most noble undertaking, which is consistent with recommendations in some previous State reports.

For instance, the Njonjo Commission Report of 2002 addressed the absentee landlord issue at the Kenya Coast. One of the proposals it provided towards resolving it was that the government should, through the Settlement Fund Trustees (SFT), initiate a land purchase scheme in the ten-mile coastal strip for purposes of settling the landless indigenous people as happened during the "million-acre" scheme in the former White Highlands at independence.

The coastal strip remains restless to date, owing to rampant landlessness. The pr...