By Geoffrey Mosoku
Nairobi, Kenya: Lands, Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu has been accused of assaulting a legal officer at the lands department in the ongoing row with the National Lands Commission.
Ms Ngilu is said to have hit Gordon Ochieng’, a legal adviser at the land administration Thursday evening, as she went to physically eject him from office.
The CS is said to have been incensed by a report that Ochieng’ prepared on an ongoing land case, which was contrary to the instructions she had given him, according to NLC chairman Mohammed Swazuri.
“The cabinet secretary walked into Mr Ochieng’s office and hit him with a file she was carrying while ordering him to either resign or take leave,” Swazuri told The Standard, saying they had advised the officer to report the matter to the police.
The NLC chairman said Ngilu, who was accompanied by three Administration Police officers then ordered Ochieng’ out of his fourth floor office before changing the locks.
“She personally supervised the changing of the locks and ordered the officer not to set foot at Ardhi House,” Swazuri said, warning that the commission would not allow its officers to be harassed. Ochieng’ worked under the defunct office of the Commissioner of Lands before he was seconded to the NLC.
According to the Lands Commission boss, Ngilu was unhappy that the officer had submitted a report and testified in a land dispute that she had an interest. “Our officer testified against the wishes of the CS and angered by this, she vowed to remove him and the commission from Ardhi House.”
Our efforts to get Ngilu for comment were fruitless, as she did not pick calls to her mobile phone or reply to text.
This is not the first time that the CS has been involved in a tussle with NLC officials. Just last month, Ngilu moved to order a director of the commission Mercy Njamweya from the office formerly occupied by former Lands Commissioner Zablon Mabea.
The CS personally ordered Ms Njamweya out before changing the locks. She later allocated the office to Peter Kahuho, whom she has appointed Lands Secretary.
And on Monday, Ngilu ordered the Directorate of Survey not to give the commission any land registration maps in what is now crippling operations at the ministry and led to a huge crisis as land titles and leases can’t be processed.
The Lands Cabinet Secretary has also ordered the commission to vacate Ardhi House and get offices elsewhere. She has appeared before the parliamentary Committee on Lands and clashed with Swazuri openly, telling him to vacate the ministry headquarters.
