New Publication: Kenya’s SGR Fuels Land Inequality. How Different Land Tenure Systems Offer Varying Degrees of Protection and Vulnerability

Kennedy Mkutu, Evelyn Owino and Conrad Schetter from sub-project B03 Violent Futures and Tessa Mkutu examine how Kenya’s Nairobi–Mombasa Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) has affected land tenure and dispossession in Voi town, revealing that large infrastructure projects can deepen inequalities through land commodification and elite accumulation. The study finds that while private land titles offer some security, they also promote speculative sales, whereas group tenure—especially through Community Land Trusts—provides stronger protection against dispossession.



Double Gain, Double Loss: Property Rights and Dispossession Surrounding Kenya’s Rail Project

By Kennedy Mkutu, Evelyn Owino, Conrad Schetter and Tessa Mkutu

Abstract
There is growing interest in how rural transformations due to mega-infrastructure projects in Africa are causing widening inequalities. We examine the impact of Kenya’s Nairobi–Mombasa standard gauge railway (SGR) on land tenure, property rights, and dispossession in Voi town, southeastern Kenya. Drawing from frontier and neo-colonial theoretical perspectives, we argue that large-scale infrastructure projects in Africa facilitate resource extraction and deepen local inequalities through land commodification, speculation, and elite accumulation. Through an ethnographic case-study approach involving fieldwork, interviews, and focus group discussions, the research highlights the complex interplay between infrastructure development and tenure insecurity. By analysing three cases we show how different land tenure systems—private, group, and public land—offered varying degrees of protection and vulnerability. We find that while private titling provides some security, it also encourages speculative sell-outs, exacerbating inequalities. Group land tenure arrangements, including a novel Community Land Trust (CLT) model, offer more robust protection against dispossession and fragmentation. We conclude with policy recommendations for stronger legal frameworks, including proactive land governance frameworks surrounding infrastructure projects, better protection of public land, and education on land rights, while calling for an inquiry into irregular land acquisitions surrounding the SGR itself.



Reference

Mkutu, K., Owino, E. A., Schetter, C., Mkutu, T. 2025-. Double Gain, Double Loss: Property Rights and Dispossession Surrounding Kenya’s Rail Project. Journal of World Affairs 1(1) 121-137. DOI

More CRC News

book cover of a publciation about foot and mouth disease

Rethinking Foot-and-Mouth Disease: How Botswana’s History Challenges Colonial Views of Animal Health

This publication examines how understandings of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in Botswana during the 1960s–70s were shaped by colonial and postcolonial contexts, showing how local veterinary ...
Read More »
a highway in namibia

New Study Reveals How Roads and Education Shape Community Visions for a Nature-Positive Future

This study by Judith K. Musa, Vincent Moseti and Lisa Biber-Freudenberger (Project A05 “Future Roads”) investigates how road infrastructure influences local communities’ sense of agency ...
Read More »
poster for an event

Transatlantic Tandem Talks: Future-Ready Food Systems? Sustainability and Resilience in Times of Crises

Wed | October 29th, 2025 | 17:00 (CET) With Peter Dannenberg (Project C01 “Future in Chains”) and Angela Bedard-Haughn (University of Saskatchewan). As the current ...
Read More »
picture taken during a workshop on "future making"

Methodologies of Future-Making: Ethnographic Inquiry Through Play and Landscape in Marginalized Contexts

This study by Saymore Ngonidzashe Kativu (German Institute of Development and Sustainability, IDOS & Project B05 “Science Futures”), Glory Ernest Mella (Sokoine University), Castrow Muunda ...
Read More »
book cover of "enforcing the line" by katrin sowa

Enforcing the Line: An Ethnography of the Kenyan Border Regime

By Katrin Sowa (University of Cologne). This book analyses historic and contemporary border regime developments in East Africa, and draws a complex picture of borders ...
Read More »
Scroll to Top