Gakuu Mathenge
19 March 2006
Nairobi — The Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission is yet to send notices to individuals and institutions named in the Ndung'u Report.
Through paid press adverts, KACC this week issued an ultimatum for all persons mentioned in the Ndung'u Report on illegal and irregular land allocations to surrender the land by April 15 this year.
It also threatened to institute recovery proceedings against those who fail to surrender the land upon expiry of the deadline.
Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister set the tone, with an earlier announcement that the Government would implement the Ndung'u report.
The report reads like the list of who is who in the current and former regimes, including the former First families.
The list includes former President Moi, members of his family, relatives and many of the powerful people in his regime, including his son and successor as Baringo Central MP, Mr Gideon Moi.
The former President's aides Joshua Kulei, Lee Njiiru and John Lokorio also feature.
Former ministers
Former Kanu ministers in the list include Keiyo South former Vice President George Saitoti, who until recently served as Education minister in the Kibaki government until forced out over the Goldenberg scandal.
Others are Keiyo South MP Nicholas Biwott and Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey.
Also in the list is former First Lady Mama Ngina Kenyatta, Defence minister Njenga Karume and National Heritage minister Suleiman Shakombo.
Former minister Kipng'eno arap Ng'eny and MPs Kuria Kanyingi and Yusuf Haji are also in the list. Others are former Kenya Air Force chief Nick Leshan, former PS Zachayo Cheruiyot and former High Court Judges William Tuiyot and Emmanuel O'Kubasu; and former Police Commissioners Shedrach Kiruki and Duncan Wachira.
Churches and other religious organisations are also among the large nunber of public and private institutions that also benefitted irregular or illegal land allocations. Soon after the demand for surrender was put, the Anglican Church of Kenya announced that it was willing to return any land which it might have got irregularly. The Catholic Church said it had not been notified or received any communications demanding it surrender its land.
Fr Maloba Wesonga, the Diocesan secretary at the Holy Family Basilica, told the Sunday Nation that the Church had all the legal documentation relating to its property and neither KACC nor the Government had proved that the Church had acquired it illegally.
"We acknowledge two properties are listed in the report as belonging to the Archdiocese of Nairobi but one of them was mistakenly attributed to us. It belongs to an individual who is not connected with the Church in any way. Nor was it sold by the Church. As for the other one, we have all the documentation relating to the processes of acquisition. It was bought from an individual and what is not in doubt is that if anyone, including KACC, proves any wrongdoing on the part of the Church, we are more than willing to abide with all the laws of the land, including giving up the property," Fr Maloba added.
The priest maintained that all the land listed in the Ndung'u Report belonged to individual dioceses and not the church as a whole. The Archdiocese of Nyeri is listed in the report as having illegally taken an 2,577 acre from a Nyeri clan during the emergency period in the 1950s.
Other Churches in the list include the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, African Inland Church, the African Independent Pentecostal Church of Africa and other maintream and the mushrooming evangelistic churches, all of which wield considerable political, economic and social clout.
Pack of nonsense
Moi-era Foreign minister Bonaya Godana, presently deputy Opposition leader, also says he has not received a notice from KACC.
Dr Godana is listed among those who irregularly benefited from Agricultural Development Corporation land in Nyandarua and Nakuru districts.
He dismisses the Ndung'u Report as "a pack of nonsense."
"KACC is aware it has no legal grounds to recover the land," he goes on, "and that is why it is pushing the burden of recovery to land owners to voluntarily surrender it. The targeting of certain individuals and the public notice are aimed at intimidating people. If anyone was to be charged, if any one was be asked any questions, it should the Commissioner of Lands who issued the title deeds, not beneficiaries," Dr Godana said.
Mathioya MP Joseph Kamotho, listed among the beneficieries of Karura forest, argued on the same lines. He said former President Moi and the Commissioner of Lands should be the ones to answer any questions arising from the allocations.
The Ndung'u Commission had proposed the formation of a Land Titles Tribunal with powers to review all doubtful cases and recommend appropriate action.
"The Ndung'u report cuts across the political divide and the Government seems to have figured it may not marshal adequate support in Parliament to amend land laws to facilitate recovery. The tribunal too would take along time and huge costs. That is why they decided to use KACC's sweeping powers but they will also meet legal challenges," says Institution of Surveyors of Kenya chairman Reginald Okumu.
Asked if KACC had powers to repossess land, the Chief Land Registrar and Principal Registrar of Titles, Mr Wambugu Ngatia, said KACC would only be acting as an agent for the Government and local authorities.
"They can only receive and repossess land on behalf of government, public institutions and local authorities as the case may be. The official surrender will only be complete when the holders sign transfer document, ceding ownership to the original owner" he said.
As for those digging in for a fight and the risk of the entire process being buried under an avalanche of litigation, KACC public communications officer, Mr Nicholas Simani, said: "We give those willing to respond time to come forward and surrender what they have. After amnesty elapses, the Commission will spell out the way forward."
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