Kenneth Ogosia
29 April 2008
Nairobi — Lands minister James Orengo on Monday said he will forcibly repossess grabbed land where evidence of graft has been cited.
Mr Orengo said he will follow the precedent of the Narc regime, which repossessed the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) from Kanu and returned it to the public.
He said all public land allocations will not be done orally and said that even the President will have to put down such requests in writing.
The Lands minister said he will not be setting up any new commissions to look into land issues. Instead, he promised to effect recommendations of reports prepared by the Ndung'u and Njonjo teams.
Mr Orengo said he had stopped all such allocations and that the ministry had communicated to all the relevant department on the matter.
"It was not easy to enforce the order, but I thank my staff who have cooperated," he said.
Mr Orengo was addressing stakeholders of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in Africa at a Nairobi hotel where a workshop on the implications of such processes is being held.
He said he will not consult the Attorney-General for advice on such obvious matters, adding that he shall proceed to right historical injustices inflicted upon Kenyans by the previous regimes.
The Ugenya MP said the post-election violence, in which 1,200 people lost their lives, and which led to displacement of more than 350,000 people, was basically a result of land tension.
The minister accused past regimes of resorting to grabbing land and settling vulnerable people in other regions.
"If I go to Limuru and Nyeri, people are concentrated in congested land whereas stretches of land in the same regions belong to a few rich landowners," he said.
The participants concurred with the minister that the issue of impunity and failure to prosecute perpetrators posed a great challenge to commissions formed in the region.
Start working
Mr Orengo announced that the National Reconciliation and Dialogue Committee would start working on drafts for the formation of a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission.
The workshop, which was attended by former Kabete MP Paul Muite, a former Commissioner in the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Dr Yasmin Sooka, and officials of the Nairobi Peace Initiative, among others, ends on Wednesday.
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