Charity Ngilu order paralyses Lands ministry

Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu at the Registrar of Lands offices in Nairobi yesterday. [PHOTO: BEVERLYNE MUSILI/ STANDARD]

By CYRUS OMBATI

Kenya: Services at the Ministry of Lands have been grounded following an order by Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu to suspend all transactions for 10 days starting on Monday.

Mrs Ngilu said the move was to facilitate reforms at the central registry. She launched the exercise and invited the media to witness it.

She, at the same time, appointed Jane Ndiba as the senior deputy chief lands registrar to oversee operations.

Armed police officers were placed on fourth, sixth and ninth floors that house the National Lands Commission offices. Apparently, the suspension has affected NLC operations.

“They are not allowing us to even move a file from one office to another. Even distribution of letters cannot be done,” said an insider at the offices. Staff members were required to produce their identification cards to be allowed in.

But the commission criticised Ngilu’s latest appointment, arguing that the Public Service Commission (PSC) is the one mandated to make the appointment. Another official claimed PSC had not approved the appointment and was planning to re-advertise the position.

Standoff

The suspension of services prompted a standoff between the NLC and police, who barred the commission’s officers from accessing their offices.Whereas NLC officials had said their operations would continue as usual, police who had been under instructions barred them from accessing their offices.

The officers also turned away the public who had turned up to seek services. Ngilu brought in more than 30 university students to assist her staff carry out the audit in the two-week period. But NLC termed Ngilu’s action as illegal. The shutdown effectively halts issuance of title deeds countrywide.  NLC Vice Chair Abigael Mukolwe however insisted that offices would open and declared that if any of their files go missing, the minister will be held responsible.

“The commission is independent and they should only bar people from going to the ministry offices and not ours. This is nasty and should not happen at all,” said Ms Mukolwe.

Ngilu, in an advert appearing in the daily newspapers, announced the department would be closed for 10 working days starting Monday, to review central land registries, and that services would resume on May 19.

The commission said it will open its services as usual and urged the public go there to be served in a separate advert.

“Pursuant to the law, the commission is an independent constitutional body and regulates its own procedures. In this regard, the commission would like to inform the general public that the commission will be open for business as usual,” said Mukolwe.

Communication breakdown

She said Ngilu’s directive was illegal and could cost the country millions of shillings in losses because she did not consult the commission.

“Some of the offices she said will be closed are under the commission, yet she did not consult us as it should be before making the announcement. We are there to serve the public but we do not understand why they are blocking the public,” said Mukolwe.

The central registry, the Nairobi registry and the records registry will all be closed for the exercise. However, the records registry is under the commission, officials said.

“To realise these objectives, the Lands Directorate has set up a programme aimed at re-engineering our business processes with a view to reducing the turn-around time on service delivery,” the notice by Ngilu read.