Govt dissolves Land Control Boards, fires members

The government on Thursday dissolved all Land Control Boards across the country, in a move aimed at curbing widespread corruption in the land sector.

Land Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi also sent packing all members of the boards and promised to reconstitute them within the next two weeks.

Those fired will not be eligible for reappointment, the CS warned.

To be appointed to the new boards, one must pass the integrity test, he added. The new boards must also reflect the two-thirds gender rule, he further said.

The boards have long been accused of presiding over the mess in the land sector in the country.

Addressing a press conference, Prof Kaimenyi accused members of the boards of overstaying in office and therefore entrenching corruption and other malpractices.

“I have been advised that the current Land Control Boards were established between 2009–2012. At the time of their appointment, tenure of office of the members was not specified. As such, a number of members of these Land Control Boards have served for a period in excess of six years,” said Prof Kaimenyi.

“From the foregoing therefore, there is need to inject some freshness into these boards by appointing new members to serve for three (3) years renewable once to eliminate cases of malpractices and lethargy,” he added.

“In order to streamline issuance of consents in these Land Control Areas, and in exercise of the powers conferred to me by Section 14 of the Land Control Act, I hereby dissolve all current Land Control Boards and revoke/terminate the appointment of all Land Control Board members,” the CS stated.

The boards, traditionally chaired by district commissioners (DC) or district officers (DO), have enjoyed sweeping powers over all transactions relating to agricultural land in their areas of jurisdiction, including its buying, selling or sub-division.

Besides the DC or DO, other members of the board include one or two other public officers, two persons nominated by the local county council and between three and seven persons residing within the area.

More than half of the members of the board must be people who own or occupy agricultural land in the area, says the Land Control Act.

The Act states that the sale, transfer, lease, mortgage, exchange, partition or other disposal of or dealing with any agricultural land which is situated within a land control area will be null and void unless the respective Land Control Board has given its consent.

The board’s consent must also be obtained before any agricultural land is divided, issued, sold, transferred or mortgaged.

The boards have been accused of abetting cases of irregular sale or transfer of land by irresponsible individuals without the knowledge or consent of their immediate families.

In such cases, the seller colludes with the board to obtain its consent to sell or mortgage the family land behind the backs of his spouse or children.

On Thursday, Kajiado Senator Peter Mositet accused the boards of presiding over the land mess in the county by colluding with elderly men to sell vast chunks of their family land to third parties without the knowledge or consent of their wives and children.

“Kaimenyi’s move is long overdue. I have always said they are not Land Control Boards but Land Selling Boards. They are behind the land problems in Kajiado.

"That is why you find old men selling hundreds of acres of their land by colluding with these boards. An old man will even present a prostitute before the board to pose as his wife and he is given consent to sell the family land," he told Nation.co.ke.