Nairobi \u2014 The Land Sector Non-State Actors lobby group has petitioned President Mwai Kibaki to urgently appoint the National Land Commission.<\/p>\n
The group’s Executive Officer Odenda Lumumba said the land commission should be in place not later than Wednesday, which coincides with the nation’s 49th independence anniversary, to deal with land issues including double allocation, absentee land lords and allocation to investors.<\/p>\n
The Civil society has questioned why the principals had delayed the appointment of the crucial commission, yet a case blocking the move, was dismissed in court.<\/p>\n
Participants cited the slow pace of implementation of land reforms and lack of political goodwill, as some of the main challenges facing land reforms implementation in the country.<\/p>\n
“We directly seize the sovereignty of the people to demand that the President does the honourable thing, to finalise the appointment of the commissioners by gazetting them. Short of that we are going to resort to the Supreme Court to adjudicate on this matter as a constitutional matter to show cause why the president can commit an act of omission in matters of extreme importance of land in this country,” said Lumumba.<\/p>\n
Although Parliament approved the names of nine members to serve in the Commission in August, the President has not made the appointments.<\/p>\n
There is suspicion among stakeholders that some powerful individuals were behind the delay that has stalled the land reforms.<\/p>\n
Acting Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Kimemia had earlier stated that the delay was caused by a court injunction.<\/p>\n
“This is to inform you that as much as the issue of Land Commission has undergone various processes, there is still a court injunction that prevents the gazettement and this office is awaiting new orders (if any).” Kimemia had stated in a letter to the commission.<\/p>\n
Last month, the High Court dismissed an application seeking to block the team from assuming office.<\/p>\n
The petitioners had claimed in court that the composition of the team infringed on their fundamental rights and freedom.<\/p>\n
But in his ruling, High Court Judge David Majanja said he did not find any breach of the petitioners’ rights.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nairobi \u2014 The Land Sector Non-State Actors lobby group has petitioned President Mwai Kibaki to urgently appoint the National Land Commission. The group’s Executive Officer Odenda Lumumba said the land commission should be in place not later than Wednesday, which coincides with the nation’s 49th independence anniversary, to deal with land issues including double allocation, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-237673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n