The Departmental Committee on Lands yesterday met with the Eng. Kung’u Ndung’u, Eng. Philemon Kandie, Eng. Kinoti , Mr. Gerrison Omanwa and Ms Kabala Tache, Director Generals of Kenya National Highways Authority, Kenya Rural Roads Authority, Kenya Urban Roads Authority and the Chair and CEO of National Land Commission respectively.
In a meeting chaired by Hon.Joash Nyamoko met as part of an inquiry into the status of land compensation in the country. MPs queried the total amount of funds owed to NLC from each of the road agencies and the why reasons for the delays in payment of the funds set aside for compensation.
“Is it fair to Kenyans to acquire their land, demolish their homes and build a road and several years later they are still waiting for compensation? What are you doing to resolve this?” asked Hon. Nyamai.
While making his submissions, Eng. Kung’u Ndung’u DG, KENHA informed the Committee of the status of 60 projects with various states of compensation. Members learnt that 29 projects are fully compensated with 4.17B awarded. The DG further admitted to owing National Land Commission 35.01B citing continued budget cuts for the past few years affecting payments to the Compensation Fund.
Documents revealed that the Kenya Urban Roads Authority owes Kshs. 1.828B to the Compensation Fund which forms 9% of the Authority’s bills. The DG, Eng. Philemon Kinoti said delay in exchequer release and limited budget have affected the Authority’s awards to NLC. Additionally, Kenya Rural Roads Authority DG, Eng. Philemon Kandie informed MPs that they owed Kshs 543M. He also cited inadequate budgetary provision for Land Compensation Fund and exchequer delays as reasons.
Legislators expressed dissatisfaction with the reasons behind the delay in awarding funds to the National Land Commission. “Why don’t you deal with the compensation of land to citizens first before you proceed to constructing projects? “asked Hon. Gideon Ochanda.
The National Land Commission Chairperson, Mr. Gerrison Omwana , “Indeed what has been tabled by the KURA DG is a true reflection. However, We do not get the compensation funds from State Departments and Agencies upfront as the law dictates.”
Members of the Committee on Lands agreed compliance and full implementation of Section 107A of the Land Act 2012 should be enforced. Lawmakers further proposed prioritizing land compensation funds as a stand alone budgetary item as well as extensive civic education on the land compensation process.
The Chair of the Committee informed the meeting further engagement with the State agencies and the National Land Commission to resolve policy challenges and institute reforms that will actualize compensation of land for citizens.
