Pastor William Ruto, during one of his prayer missions this time in Isiolo declared that he is giving new directives as to what the National Land Commission can and cannot do.
“I have already commanded the NLC people that they will no longer do the evaluations for land compensation. The Ministry of Lands will carry out the valuations so as to ensure every Kenyan get their equal share,” he said.
“I want NLC to listen to me very carefully because that commission has become like a market. Someone goes there land worth Sh100,000 is being valued at Sh1 million. For those unwilling to pay bribes, land worth Sh1 million is devalued to Sh100,000,” Ruto illustrated.
“That nonsense must stop and going forward it is not possible for the National Lands Commission to decide where the compensation is going to happen, who is going to be compensated and how much is it going to be paid,” he said.
The National Land Commission was set up in the 2010 Kenya Constitution, which Ruto opposed by the way, and its mandate and responsibilities are defined in the constitution and Ruto has absolutely no powers to issue directives to the NLC. Here is what the Kenya constitution says about the NLC.
The National Land Commission (NLC) is a constitutional commission established under Article 67 (1) of the Constitution of Kenya 2010. The Commission was operationalized by the National Land Commission (NLC) Act, 2012, the Land Act, 2012, and the Land Registration Act, 2012.
The Commission is mandated by the Constitution to perform the following functions:
- To manage public land on behalf of the national and county governments;
- To recommend a national land policy to the national government;
- To advise the national government on a comprehensive programme for the registration of title in the land throughout Kenya;
- To conduct research related to land and the use of natural resources, and make recommendations to appropriate authorities;
- To initiate investigations, on its own initiative or on a complaint, into present or historical land injustices, and recommend appropriate redress;
- To encourage the application of traditional dispute resolution mechanisms in land conflicts;
- To assess tax on land and premiums on immovable property in any area designated by law; and
- To monitor and have oversight responsibilities over land use planning throughout the country.
The Commission is led by the Chairman and EIGHT Commissioners who are appointed to serve for a
Mandate and Functions of the Commission
Article 67 (2) provides the mandate and functions of the Commission as:
i. Manage public land on behalf of the national and county governments;
ii. Recommend a National Land Policy to the national government;
iii. Advise the national government on a comprehensive program for the registration of title in land throughout Kenya;
iv. Conduct research related to land and the use of natural resources, and make recommendations to appropriate authorities;
v. Initiate investigations, on its own initiative or on a complaint, into present or historical land injustices, and recommend appropriate redress;
vi. Encourage the application of traditional dispute resolution mechanisms in land conflicts;
vii. Assess tax on land and premiums on immovable property in any area designated by law; and
viii. Monitor and have oversight responsibilities over land use planning throughout the country.
Additionally, other functions of the Commission are prescribed in Article 67 (3) of the Constitution, Chapter 15 of the Constitution and relevant statutes, including the National Land Commission Act (2012), Land Act (2012), Land Registration Act (2012) and Community Land Act (2016) among others.
President William Ruto on Sunday, May 21, issued a new directive, slashing the powers of the National Land Commission (NLC) with immediate effect.
The President who was speaking at Isiolo during a thanksgiving service, noted that there was a massive corruption within NLC and mostly it stemmed during the compensation process.
“And that is why I have instructed that NLC will no longer be involved in evaluation on matters concerning land compensation,” the President announced.
“That must stop immediately,” Ruto read the riot act to NLC,” he noted.
Ruto has pending cases with NLC one in his Weston Hotel theft of land belonging to KCAA and another one in Eldoret where Ruto grabbed government houses.
Here is William Ruto’s cases where he tried to use NLC to steal land.
There are pending land grabbing cases everywhere from Eldoret where Ruto faces a case of grabbing public land and buildings in the town.
He tried to use the National Land Commission (NLC) to allow him to keep property worth billions and the courts ruled a few months ago that NLC has no jurisdiction over the stolen property in Eldoret. That case is coming before the courts and the ruling about it is in the public domain.
Ruto has the Weston Hotel mega land theft from the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA). In the KCAA saga, Ruto tried to use the NLC again which he claimed made a ruling that he just needs to pay compensation and can keep the land. KCAA refused and the matter is before the courts as we speak.
The details of the latest ruling on Weston Hotel land are pretty frightening if you are William Ruto.
The Court of Appeal ruling by Justice Benard Eboso in March 2021 was that the direction by the NLC that Ruto can just compensate the KCAA over the land was not binding and was irrelevant because it is up to the holder of the title deed to decide which way to go. The Court of Appeal gave KCAA full authority to pursue the matter in court.
A desperate Ruto then appealed the ruling by Justice Benard Eboso claiming they were dissatisfied with the ruling which allows a petition by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) to proceed for hearing.
As of right now, the matter is before the Environment and Land Court which has jurisdiction to hear the case, and that the NLC decision was not binding. To make things worse for Ruto, Justice Eboso in his ruling noted that NLC itself acknowledged that it lost its mandate to revoke titles under section 14 of the NLC Act and that it can only give recommendations and advisories for alternative dispute resolutions (mediation) or to courts for arbitration.
Here is the big deal on both cases in Eldoret and Nairobi. Ruto had argued that the NLC has the right to revoke title deeds and that is why they revoked the title deed held by the government in Eldoret and also revoked the title deed held by the KCAA on the land he grabbed.
So Ruto grabs the land, goes to the NLC, and asks them to revoke the title deed from the previous holder and then he just pays some compensation. The courts have now ruled the NLC has no such authority and NLC has also acknowledged that whatever they say about such issues is just some idea on how to find solutions without going to court, but land owners have the final authority on which way they want to solve such problems of land grabbing.
Simply put in the Weston Hotel case, it is up to KCAA to decide whether they will go to court or seek an alternative resolution of the matter. If you are Ruto you know by now that KCAA is not going to help you grab their land.
If the courts once again rule that NLC has no jurisdiction to give Ruto stolen land and order the land be returned to KAA it will be his worst nightmare because technically, his Weston Hotel buildings will be subject to demolition just like the government has demolished buildings in Mukuru which the court ruled were grabbed from the rightful owners.
When people see William Ruto go crazy to become Kenya’s next president they have to understand what is at stake for him.
The courts are going to crush him like a pinata and take the stolen properties back. His only hope is that if he becomes the president he can use his presidential powers to keep his stolen properties. Ruto’s bottom is on fire over stolen land and that is why he talks about bottom up innuendos
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One thing William Ruto knows is that his land theft cases regarding Weston Hotel and the Eldoret Houses are coming to court or maybe Muturi the AG will go to court and say that Ruto as the president cannot be taken to court and has a right to steal as much land as he wants. We will see about that but one thing is for sure. Ruto cannot give directives to the NLC or any other constitutional body in the country. To do that he has to change the constitution through a referendum. That is the law of the land.
This case of Ruto issuing directives to the NLC has to be taken to court immediately assuming Ruto at least still allows the courts to operate. Let’s hope that is the case.
The big scam that William Ruto if he had any guts should be dealing with is what happened with the massive Kericho tea farmland where Finlays occupying stolen land for more than a century which was supposed to be returned to the local population through the NLC and 2010 constitutional provisions just decided to sell the entire tea farms to their friends.
Under the 2010 constitution the NLC was given the authority to limit land leases to 99 years which made the Finlay free leasehold in Kericho and adjoining areas illegal as they had expired. Instead of our government sorting that out they have allowed Finlay to lease the entire tea estate to a new company and if Kenyans go to them to talk about 99 year lease they will say their lease is not even one year old.
Has William Ruto even talked about that whole Finlay scam? No. Why? This was something done with all the big boys getting their cut as Kenyans in the area have their land now stolen forever. That is the government Kenyans have today.
