Naivasha meeting retains separate police units as land experts protest

By Mutinda Mwanzia

The Parliamentary Select Committee on Constitutional Review has come under fire from land experts and stakeholders for deleting sections of the land chapter in the Revised Draft Constitution.

They said PSC was acting against the spirit of reforms and national interest and was under the control of forces involved in the wanton destruction of natural resources and land grabbing.

The Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK) Chairman Mwenda Makathimo said removal of the National Land Commission (NLC) from the draft constitution takes the country back to the era of excessive powers vested in the President.

"These powers have been abused resulting in illegal allocation of land, corruption and destruction of national assets," said Mr Makathimo.

Not contentious

He said the Committee of Experts had identified the issue of land as not contentious adding PSC was disregarding the views of experts and Kenyans.

Their protest came in the wake of similar concerns raised by Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).

The human rights body has also protested the move by the PSC to exclude the protection of civil society and the removal of the commission from the draft.

KNCHR Vice-Chairman Hassan Omar Hassan said the removal of the economic and social rights from the Bill of Rights was retrogressive.

He said PSC had deleted all references respecting recognition of the civil society in contributing to the management of national affairs. Mr Hassan said the sector needs constitutional recognition and protection.

"We believe this is an onslaught on bodies that have been critical of the Government. It is a move in the wrong direction," said Hassan.

On Tuesday, Makathimo said the NLC was a governance tool whose mandate was to prevent the Executive from abusing land administration and management processes.

"Not entrenching NLC in the constitution will expose land to political manipulation and that has characterised land administration since independence," said Makathimo.

The official said it was shameful the House committee could not reach consensus on the land issues yet they had agreed unanimously on the more controversial subject of structure of the presidency.

Makathimo was addressing a news conference at a Nairobi Kenya Land Alliance National Co-ordinator Lumumba Odenda and Shelter Forum Co-Chair Nancy Abisai flanked Makathimo at a press conference in a Nairobi hotel.

Others were Prof Patricia Kameri-Mbote, an expert in land and environmental law and Dr Mohammed Swazuri of the University of Nairobi.

On Tuesday, Mr Odenda said removal of all references to community land from the draft constitution exposes trust land to abuse by county councils and the central government.

"It is common knowledge that custodians of trust land have abused their powers and acted in total disregard of locals in dishing out land to their cronies," he said.

Odenda said it was immoral for PSC to ignore proposals on the NLP, which were debated and adopted by Parliament adding the team had shown they were not committed to land reforms