Anyone with a title of a parcel that is gazetted as forest land is holding a piece of paper. We have so much to do yet our mandate has ended. That is why we have requested for extension of our term. We have many titles in the wrong hands that must be revoked.
Our mandate to review grant and disposal of public land under dispute expired. We have made presentations to Parliament for an extension but that has not been given. We recovered Karura Forest. Recovering forest land is something that must be focused on.
In the meantime, we have told bodies where public land is vested to take care of their land. If anybody with a title comes out to occupy, they must ensure that their land is safe. Even if you are a powerful individual holding titles in forest land, you are holding just a paper.
Forest land is gazetted and not available for allocation. To degazette forest land requires a Cabinet decision. Even if Parliament degazettes, the Cabinet must approve as the land belongs to the Government of Kenya. The owner of the land must agree. There is a need to see if procedures were followed when claims are made about degazetted forest land. If the law was not followed, the allocation will be revoked.
Ngong Forest has never been available for allocation. It is a gazetted forest and has never been degazetted. We do have a lot of work particularly on the recovery of grabbed public land.
We still have over 100,000 titles in the wrong hands, so there is a lot of work to be done. We have just scratched the surface. That is why we have asked for extension of our mandate under Section 14 for another five years. But even five years are not enough to review over 100,000 titles. But what we keep saying as a commission is that surrendering is an option: you can surrender an irregular title in good faith.
The DPP should come on board to find out how the illegal owners acquired their and go after fraudsters.
Abigail Mukolwe is the acting NLC Chairperson.
[Article published in The Star, Monday 12th November 2018 edition]
