Ngilu, Swazuri yet to agree on report
What you need to know:
- Mrs Ngilu is understood to be keen on seeking an extension to the Supreme Court’s 90-day ultimatum, a proposal the Sunday Nation established had been rejected by NLC.
- In the report prepared by a joint committee that drew its membership from the ministry, State Law Office and NLC, the ministry was required to surrender survey maps and deed plans to the commission by November 30.
- NLC also alleged that Mrs Ngilu has refused to release some 500 officers from her ministry to undertake land administration, record management, land adjudication and clerical functions at the commission.
A new report has recommended the transfer of several functions from the ministry of Land to the National Land Commission in a bid to end the power struggles between Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu and commission chairman Muhammad Swazuri.
Despite the report having been completed in November 2014, Mrs Ngilu and Dr Swazuri are yet to agree on its contents — a situation that is said to be causing unease, yet again.
The commission alleges that Mrs Ngilu has refused to sign the report to make it operational.
President Uhuru Kenyatta had in November last year hosted Mrs Ngilu and Dr Swazuri to talks at State House Nairobi in an effort to end the feuds that had affected economic development.
The meeting came after the Supreme Court gave the two leaders a 90-day ultimatum to sort out the disputes. The 90 days end on January 28. While granting the 90 days for talks, the court also cautioned the two leaders that it would step in and issue an advisory opinion if they fail to agree.
Mrs Ngilu and Dr Swazuri were side by side in the recent repossession of Lang’ata Primary School playground and spoke out strongly against land grabbing.
“The picture that the public is getting that Dr Swazuri and the Cabinet Secretary are working together is not genuine because there are a lot of undercurrents,” an NLC official told the Sunday Nation.
Efforts by the Sunday Nation to get a comment from Mrs Ngilu were futile as she did not respond to the questions sent to her by e-mail.
SURRENDER SURVEY MAPS
Mrs Ngilu is understood to be keen on seeking an extension to the Supreme Court’s 90-day ultimatum, a proposal the Sunday Nation established had been rejected by NLC.
In the report prepared by a joint committee that drew its membership from the ministry, State Law Office and NLC, the ministry was required to surrender survey maps and deed plans to the commission by November 30.
In surrendering the maps, the ministry was also required to withdraw a letter authorising officers to forward survey maps to the chief land registrar at the ministry.
NLC also alleged that Mrs Ngilu has refused to release some 500 officers from her ministry to undertake land administration, record management, land adjudication and clerical functions at the commission.
The officers are supposed to report to their new work stations beginning February 1 but the ministry is said to have sent them on a retreat in Mombasa against NLC’s wishes.
The committee also recommended that the ministry relinquish transfer of the land tax function to NLC by January 1, 2015.
The function, the report stated, should be under the commission, which will administer dealings in leasehold for public land.
The committee had also agreed that NLC collect the land rent and stand premium, which the ministry was required to relinquish.
In addition, Land Principal Secretary Mariamu el Maawy was to account to the commission the collections the ministry had made between February 27, 2013 and December 31, 2014.
