Jubilee MPs sound warning to Orengo over Lamu land
Leader of Majority Aden Duale. FILE
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Addressing a news conference last evening, Mr Duale said Parliament have powers to summon senator James Orengo who served as Lands minister during the 2011 - 2012 period when over 500,000 acres of land was allocated to the private firms.
Majority leader Aden Duale has said that Parliament have powers to summon senator James Orengo who served as Lands minister during the 2011 - 2012 period when over 500,000 acres of land in Lamu county was allocated to 22 private companies.
“We have power as Parliament to summon a senator who owns a title deed for Ngamia 1 land where oil was discovered recently. We also have power to summon whoever owns the Yatta ranch,” added the Garrisa Town MP. Mr Duale also claimed that political leaders who are suspected to be behind the Lamu land scandal will have their bank and MPesa accounts investigated.
“We are telling Mr James Orengo that we are soon going to spill the beans on the amount of money he received through bank, MPesa transactions and proxies,” Duale said. He alleged that investigations pointed to politicians after proxies who were used to register the 22 companies started coming out.
President Uhuru Kenyatta last week ordered lands cabinet secretary Charity Ngilu, the National Land Commission, the CID director Ndegwa Muhoro and Inspector General David Kimaiyo to revoke the title deeds and investigate those who are behind the titles that were irregularly revoked.
Mr Orengo has since come out to deny any wrongdoing saying he cancelled over 1000 title deeds allocated to among others Deputy President William Ruto and labour cabinet secretary Kazungu Kambi. Mr Orengo said he will soon spill the beans on all land grabbers, a threat that Jubilee dared him to make good.
Addressing a news conference on Tuesday evening, Duale led over 30 MPs in demanding that the investigative arms of government should move with speed to unearth the truth and prosecute the culprits.
Jubilee MPs have given the Inspector General of Police, the Director of Criminal Investigations Department and the Anti-Corruption Commission 14 days to unmask faces behind the 22 companies whose title deeds to land in Lamu was ordered revoked.
“As we sit here, two of the 22 companies’ directors have recorded statements with police. The Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko has directed the 20 other company directors to show up.
The 22 private companies include Brick Investments Limited, Rusken International Limited, Mat International, Witu Nyangoro Ranch (DA) Company, Witu Conservative Self Help Group, Shanghai Investment Limited and Fincorp Investments (K) Limited. Others are Kaab Investments, Sheila Ranch Limited, Dynamic Trading Co. Limited and Savannah Fresh Fruits Exports.
“We don’t want this matter to die. We promised Kenyans that we have the answer to the land question. The National Land Commission (NLC) should act,” Duale said. He challenged the investigating arms to move with speed and reveal whether or not the directors of the companies exist.
“After 14 days, our membership in the House through the relevant committees will summon the leadership of those institutions to give us a report on how far they have gone with investigations into the Lamu land scandals,” Duale said.
Mr Duale said the government will also move to investigate activities of former Immigration Minister Senator Otieno Kajwang.
“We will move to investigate Otieno Kajwang’s tenure at the immigration department where national documents were issued to aliens indiscriminately in return for money,” Duale claimed.
Opposition coalition CORD challenged Parliament to fast track the passage of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission which named several persons as having grabbed public land.
