Land bills row escalates as Matiangi, Swazuri fight

The row over several proposed land laws outlined in a number of bills continues to draw varied reactions, with acting Lands Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i accusing those opposed to the bills of being insincere.

The Lands Cabinet Secretary has taken issue with National Lands Commission Chairman Muhammad Swazuri’s continued criticism of the laws and he has asked those opposed to the bills to present their views to the National Assembly.

The Ministry has been accused of going through the back door to introduce changes through three land laws: the Land Registration Act 2012, the National Land Commission Act 2012 and the Land Act 2012.

The National Land Commission accusing the ministry of seeking to amend the laws that partly intend to reorganize the workings of the commission to dilute its powers.

“The only place they are saying is unconstitutional is the place where functions of ministry and the commission are given. And the reason is because the ministry has been told they have no role constitutionally,” said Swazuri.

NLC claims that the Ministry intends to take away their mandate, but the Cabinet Secretary in charge says someone is not telling the truth.

“If you feel that you were not involved in the process or you did not give your views, the door is not closed and that is not a good reason enough to say withdraw the bills from the House or don’t vote on them. We cannot have endless discussion,” said Matiang’i.

However, Swazuri feels that Kenyans are being lied to by the Ministry, which has over the past years experienced endless controversies over land allocations and related cases.

“The ministry is lying to Kenyans. I could not have sat down to remove my own powers. That’s not acceptable at all. Secondly, even the one on Community Land Bill, the task force that went around wasted its time as the bill that has been presented to Parliament is not what it prepared,” added Swazuri.

But the National Land Commission is not alone in its criticism of the new proposed land laws.  During Citizen TV’s Big Question programme early this week, the Council of Governors Chair Peter Munya claimed the Ministry never involved the county governments and if ministry officials did so, then they must have consulted junior county officials when preparing the proposed laws.

“The national ministries call junior officers for a seminar and then say they have consulted. They should have called the Council, it is the apex body of governors,” said Munya.

However, Matiang’i differs with Munya on this.

“The county governors were involved; my colleagues know who is telling lies. A Governor said to a TV station that junior officers went to a meeting. This is a lie,” said Matiang’i.

The controversial bills have already gone through the first reading at the National Assembly, with the lands committee now doing public consultations where interested parties are expected to present their views.