Lamu land allocations were illegal, Attorney General Githu Muigai says

Kenya: Attorney General Githu Muigai has termed the sale of public land in Lamu County after the promulgation of the Constitution in 2010 as unconstitutional.

Prof Muigai said during that period, issuance of title deeds was stopped until the National Land Commission (NLC) was in place and therefore, the defunct county councils, former Lands minister Senator James Orengo and former commissioner of lands Zablon Mabea acted illegally.

He said the allocation was illegal because there was also a constitutional freeze in land transactions until NLC was constituted.

"These title deeds are not recognisable by law. They were issued in contravention of the law," he said.

In 2010, the issuance of title deeds to alienated public land was frozen to pave way for the creation of the NLC to deal with the matter, the AG said.

The Government's chief legal adviser defended President Uhuru Kenyatta's move to revoke 500,000 title deeds in Lamu, saying he acted within the law.

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"The president's directive was appropriate. He ordered that the ministry and the commission to initiate the process to cancel the titles. As the adviser, I was consulted and I concurred with the President to take such steps," he said.

The AG was responding to concerns raised by Senator Mutula Kilonzo Junior (Makueni) on the feud between Ngilu and NCL chairman Mohammad Swazuri on their mandates and the President's directive to revoke title deeds.

"The fights between the two institutions should not be there. I have written to book the ministry and NLC clearly explaining each mandate and they are distinct," Prof Muigai said.