Charity Ngilu dares James Orengo to give evidence linking DP William Ruto to Lamu land scam

Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu.

Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu has challenged former Lands Minister James Orengo to provide any evidence linking the President's family and Deputy President William Ruto to any illegal land acquisition in Coast or any part of Kenya.

But she deflected all questions when asked if she was aware of any land parcels owned by the Kenyatta extended family.

When Ruto spoke at a teachers' forum in Mombasa Tuesday, he avoided the land question, including Orengo's Monday claim that he tried to steal land several years ago.

During a tour of the Lands registry in Kilifi Tuesday, Mrs Ngilu asked Mr Orengo to provide evidence and not sweeping statements.

"I am asking Mr Orengo to give us documentary evidence that directly links the family of the head of state and his deputy on his allegations that he has information that associates the two with land grabbing in the coast region," said Ngilu.

It is not clear what allegations she was referring to because the former minister has not publicly linked the President to any illegal land acquisition.

Ngilu claimed that land grabbing across the country occurred when Orengo was Lands minister under the Grand Coalition Government and pointed to disputed allocations between 2010 and 2012.

She said her office had launched investigations on land grabbing at Mkekeptoni and Hindi settlement schemes and said soon the culprits will be brought to book.

And Labour Cabinet Secretary Kambi Kazungu has refuted claims that he is among those whose title deeds were revoked.

Kambi said Orengo should leave his name out of political theatrics.

Early this week, Orengo announced that land ownership in Lamu was in the hands of few rich and well-connected families and mentioned Kambi as being among the beneficiaries whose titles were revoked.

Kambi, who was addressing a Press conference in Nairobi, said Orengo did not answer questions tormenting him when he addressed the media on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Commission for the Implementation of the Constitution (CIC) has questioned the legality of a presidential directive revoking title deeds for 500,000 acres of land in Lamu County.

CIC has written to the National Land Commission (NLC) seeking to know if it was involved in the process.

In a letter dated August 4, CIC vice chair Elizabeth Muli sought to confirm reports that the president had directed the revocation of land titles in Lamu.

CIC is the agency mandated to monitor the implementation of the Constitution. Its move was prompted by complaints from various parties that the President had no powers to revoke land titles.

NLC has already initiated a formal process of revoking title deeds to 500,000 acres in Lamu County.