Land Commission wants MPs to pass land laws

The National Land Commission (NLC) now wants Parliament to consider all pending Bills proposed by the commission to curb historical land injustices cases.

NLC chairperson Mohammed Swazuri, who was addressing the press after attending the hearing of eleven cases of land injustices in Matuga constituency, Kwale County, said the law is not clear on how to deal with those involved in land grabbing.

“We should have clear laws that safeguard the land sector, and I urge Parliament to pass the Land Bill that the commission presented before it,” he said.

Swazuri reiterated that the Supreme Court had earlier directed the Attorney General Prof. Githu Muigai and the Kenya Law Reform Commission to embark on aligning the land sector laws to the Constitution.

The chairman emphasized on need for co-operation between the commission and the Ministry of Lands in ensuring the formulation and implementation of laws.

“Parliament currently has before it the Community Land Bill, Physical Planning Bill and the omnibus Land Laws (Amendment) Bill 2015 that seek to address historical land injustices, provision on maximum and minimum acreage, eviction and resettlement.”

The three proposed legislations have been a major point of contention between the Executive which supported them and the NLC that had been crying foul over some of the provisions that supposedly sought to take away its powers as well as prevent it from public participation in formulating the Bills.