Ngilu, Swazuri turf wars deepen over 10-day freeze on land deals

A 10-day freeze on land transactions by the Lands ministry that started on Monday reignited a turf war with the National Land Commission (NLC) even as property dealers face losses running into billions of shillings.

Lands secretary Charity Ngilu, flanked by the chief lands registrar and directors of various departments in the ministry, oversaw the start of the 10-day audit of the central registry even as NLC officials termed the closure illegal.

“The commission takes great concern to the said notice given that the functions that are squarely for the commission are purported to be shut,” said the NLC in a statement.

Registration of land documents, searches, stamp duty and land rent payments, as well as application for valuation and processing will be stalled for the period.

Other affected transactions include payment of allotments, application for subdivision of land, settlement programmes and land adjudication. This will make it difficult to transact in land or use it as collateral for loans in a freeze that will hit banks and property dealers.

On Monday, armed police officers stood guard at the Lands ministry headquarters, turning away dozens of people seeking services and snooping on NLC officials “to ensure no file leaves the Ardhi House premises”.

“There is no way we could undertake this sensitive matter without security given the emotive nature of land issues,” said Mrs Ngilu at her Ardhi House office.

“We have to clean up the registry by addressing several cases of missing files, then we’ll be able to release pending title deeds in bulk,” she said.

READ: Lands offices closed as 10-day audit begins

NLC officials, in a separate meeting at Ardhi House, maintained that the minister deployed armed officers to prevent them from doing their work.

While the ministry handles private land transactions, NLC officials said that they are mandated to prepare and execute public leases before passing them on to the chief registrar to sign and issue titles. 

“We are deeply perturbed that the minister has brought in a number of strangers to handle sensitive land records,” NLC vice chairperson Abigail Mbagaya-Mukolwe said, referring to the hiring of about 30 university students to undertake the exercise.

“The minister is aware of our mandate and the fact that this is an independent body,’’ she added. On Monday, Mrs Ngilu maintained the stance that NLC is an advisory body whose role is limited to providing recommendations to the ministry.