It's embarrassing that Lamu land allocation happened under Raila's watch, Ngilu says

MOMBASA, KENYA: Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu has claimed CORD leader Raila Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) allowed the disputed allocation of 500,000 acres of public land in Lamu to 22 companies during the tenure of the grand coalition Government.

She said the Government will investigate land allocations dating back to 1963, warning all illegal acquisitions will be revoked irrespective of the status of beneficiaries.

Ngilu served under the grand coalition on the ODM side but Monday she reserved harsh words for the Orange party, Raila and former Lands minister James Orengo claiming that the alleged allocations were done secretly. Raila's ODM shared power with then President Kibaki's PNU between 2008 and 2013.

"As ODM, we never sat anywhere and agreed to allocate land to 22 entities at the expense of the poor. It is shameful and embarrassing that it happened under Raila's watch," Ngilu said as she alleged that anyone defending the allocations is covering up crime.

Ngilu was in Mombasa to supervise the shutdown of Kwale, Kilifi and Mombasa land registries for audit. She claimed the recent violence in Lamu could have been fanned by land tycoons who wanted to displace residents.

Ngilu said people who irregularly acquired large chunks of land could have used violence to remove people from their homes ahead of the building of the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia (Lapsset) corridor project.

Speaking at the Mombasa Land Registry Monday, she said there is adequate political goodwill to repossess all irregularly acquired land at the Coast and the country at large.

Ngilu was accompanied by Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa and other senior land officials.

"After the registries are cleaned up, loss of files and double-titling will be a thing of the past," Ngilu said, adding that the Government will audit files for land allocations to ascertain whether they were acquired regularly or not.

However, she could not say from which year of land allocations the Government would investigate.

"Those defending the allocation of 500,000 acres to 22 entities in Lamu are playing bad politics. We are going to deal with all land grabbers regardless of their status and ensure the poor get land. The Jubilee Government promised answers to the land question and we are doing the work. Give us a chance," Ngilu said.

Ngilu said contrary to claims that only the National Land Commission (NLC) has the powers to revoke title deeds, the President possesses such powers under article 66 of the Constitution.

Ngilu hit out at ODM claiming some of its leaders conspired to allocate land in Lamu behind her back.

She also claimed Orengo had promised to allocate Lamu residents land in eight months but failed to fulfill the pledge.

"I sent surveyors to Lamu this week to speed up the allocation of land to villagers at the Swahili settlement scheme," she said.

Ngilu claimed two files for the controversial land allocations have been found in the Mombasa Land Registry where owners of one plot have secured a loan while owners of the other are in the process of also getting a loan.

On the controversial Waitiki farm in Likoni, Mombasa County, Ngilu said she was personally talking to the owner Evanson Kamau Waitiki and assured the 120,000 squatters on the disputed farm that they would not be evicted.

"I am on top of the matter. The Government is going to protect the interests of the people and that of the land owner," Ngilu said. Sources said the land owner had offered to sell the land to the Government at Sh9 billion but the Government had evaluated the 940 acres at about Sh3 billion.