By GEOFREY MOSOKU
Nairobi, Kenya: Land, Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary Charity will know her fate this week, when a joint parliamentary committee tables its report.
In a special issue of Kenya Gazette dated October 10, Ngilu appointed former Coast Province lands officer Peter Kangethe Kahuho as the acting Director General of Lands on interim basis.
The joint committee on Lands and Delegated Legislation then summoned the Cabinet Secretary after appointing Kahuho without consulting the Public Service Commission (PSC) and National Lands Commission (NLC).
Ngilu further gazzeted Kahuho to sign titles, taking away the duty from Lands Commissioner Zablon Mabea.
Both the Lands Act, 2012, and the Land Registration Act, 2012, as well as the Constitution that the Cabinet secretary cited in her appointment, do not envisage the position of Director General of Lands.
She is also facing a probe about her role in a dispute surrounding three pieces of land; one in Westlands that belongs to the Kuwaiti government, registered as LR No 1870/10/71. The second plot involves an incident of double allocation on LR No 24573 of Athi River signed by Kahuho. MPs were also informed of attempts to excise 210 acres of land belonging to the Numerical Machinery Complex in Athi River, LR No. 26699.
Under the law, Mabea who is an appointee of the President was to continue signing titles until such a time that the NLC law is amended to give the Muhammad Swazuri-led body powers to sign the titles.
The Cabinet Secretary does not enjoy powers to sack or appoint the lands boss as this is the preserve of the PSC. She also made changes that saw Euphantus Murage who had been the Director of Survey moved to the Ministry of Mining and his deputy Baoz Owino transferred to the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum.
Murage was replaced by Ceaser Mbaria who was senior assistant Director of Survey and Owino’s position taken over by Julius Rotich who has been in the Land Registry.
The joint committees headed by Alex Muiru and William Cheptumo respectively is set to finalise its report by Tuesday morning and table it in Parliament on Wednesday.
“We are meeting on Tuesday at 9am to deliberate on the submission before making a resolution,” Cheptumo said.
Kirinyaga Central MP Joseph Gitari, who raised the matter in the House two weeks ago, said yesterday that if Ngilu is found to have violated any article of the Constitution, then the committee is at liberty to invite Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to probe her for abuse of office.
“If she violated the constitution and flouted other laws by usurping powers of the PSC and NLC, then the recommendation will be to revoke the appointments and invite EACC to probe her for abuse of power,” Gitari said.
The Kirinyaga Central legislator, who is a land surveyor by profession, said the MPs are likely to recommend that Cabinet secretaries respect independent bodies such as PSC and NLC.
MPs also say that the report may be used to invoke the process of removing a Cabinet Secretary from office under Article 152 of the Constitution.
But even before the committees complete their inquiry, Ngilu in another twist of events, revoked the appointment of Kahuho from signing titles while retaining him as Director General of Lands.
Both NLC and PSC told the MPs that Ngiluhad not consulted them nor did she have powers to appoint.
