A view of Ardhi House along Ngong Road in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Armed police officers took charge of the Lands offices in Nairobi on Monday and turned away dozens of people seeking services as a ten-day audit of registries began.
Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu last week ordered the audit of the Central Registry, Nairobi Registry and Records Registry — all at Ardhi House along Ngong Road— saying her officers needed time to bring sanity in the Lands offices following a string of public complaints.
“As the one who deals directly with real cases from the public, I cannot just sit back and watch. Let those who are complaining judge us by the result that comes out after May 19,” Mrs Ngilu said.
The National Land Commission (NLC) officials have however termed the minister's action as illegal and accused her of deploying “strong arm” tactics to prevent them from doing their work.
“We are deeply perturbed that the minister is using armed police officers to bring in a number of strangers to handle sensitive land records”, said NLC Vice Chairperson Abigail Mbagaya.
“The minister is aware of our mandate and the fact that this is an independent body that only reports to parliament and the people of Kenya.” She added.
The minister has been embroiled in turf wars with NLC since she took up her appointment last year.
Last month, the NLC moved to Supreme Court to interpret their role and that of the ministry following several such incidences in the past.
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