The National Land Commission (NLC) Chairman Muhammad Swazuri has said that a Bill before parliament proposed by the Lands Ministry is a ‘nefarious scheme to disband his commission’.
Speaking in Mombasa during a land forum, Dr Swazuri said the Physical and Spatial Planning Bill that proposes radical changes in land management and administration was a ploy to render the NLC ‘toothless, intimidate and harass the commissioners.’
He said the amendments seek to make the NLC impotent and rob it of its constitutional powers and place the management and administration of land matters in the hands of ‘selfish ministry officials’.
"The amendments, will in the long run, undermine devolution as it seeks to disband county land management boards and a return to the land grabbing menace," he said.
He added: "This is nothing more than a ploy to disband the commission but we can only be disbanded through a referendum and these amendments by the mandarins in the lands ministry want to send the commission packing without following the constitutional route."
The Bill which seeks to amend various Acts including the Land Act, Land Registration Act and NLC Act and the Physical Planning Act will also collapse the proposed Evictions Draft Bill and Historical Land Injustices draft Bill law under the amendment Bill instead of stand-alone Acts as favoured by the NLC.
His sentiments were also echoed by the Mvita MP Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir who said that the bill seeks to clip the powers of the land commission and vowed to oppose it when presented in parliament for debate.
“We can’t allow the commission to be disbanded at the whims of ministry officials who want to usurp its powers and have final say on matters of land,” he said.