Superiority wars at Lands costly to country

Kenya: It took too long for the chief government legal advisor, Attorney General Githu Muigai, to come out and speak publicly about the stand-off between the chairman of the National Land Commission (NLC) and the Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Lands.

Day to day operations at the ministry have suffered while the two institutions mandated to deal with matters of land and title deeds pull in different directions bickering over who is constitutionally empowered to issue title deeds, appoint key officials and renew land lease documents. The reluctance of Mrs Charity Ngilu to hand over some key functions to the NLC has not only occasioned bad blood, it has seriously affected operations.

In his observation that none of the contested functions exclusively belonged to either of the antagonists, the AG was simply affirming what has been observed to be a duplication of duties, not just at the Ministry of Lands, but other institutions as well. 

Indeed, a review of existing institutions is necessary to stop duplication of work and unnecessary friction. Calling upon the NLC and the parent Lands ministry to sit and work together in collaboration, consultation and co-operation is an exercise in futility. The two seemed to have irredeemable differences.

To avoid continued paralysis, there is need for Parliament to sit and deliberate on the functionality of the Lands ministry vis -a -vis the National Land Commission and to set out clear demarcation lines in the functions of both parties. Only recently, the NLC put on notice land grabbers.

Its efforts might come to naught if at some point, the parent ministry objects to its mode of operation. In a letter to governors, and which they have vowed to ignore, the Lands Cabinet secretary appears intent on subjugating the National Land Commission or stating that NLC was superfluous and needed to be disbanded. Meanwhile, no title deeds are being issued to legitimate landowners.