Parliament has summoned Lands, Public Works, Housing, and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome over failure to honour invitations for seven consecutive times to respond to public petitions filed on behalf of ordinary citizens.
The Senate Committee on Lands, Environment and Natural Resources directed Ms Wahome to appear before it on May 15, 2025, without failure.
The committee, which was set to meet Ms Wahome, adjourned its sittings prematurely after the Cabinet Secretary sent a letter informing Senators that she will not attend the session as she is away in Washington, United States, attending official engagements.
“We have issued a directive that a summons be issued to Ms Wahome compelling her attendance without fail,” Faki Mohamed, the Mombasa Senator and the chairperson of the committee, said.
“We were to deliberate on seven petitions and 28 statements sought by members on behalf of Kenyans. Her absence is sabotaging our work.”
Mr Faki said the committee had expected an explanation to be excused in the latest meeting, but the Cabinet Secretary will have to provide detailed reasons as to why she has skipped invitations for the past seven times.
“We are not going to treat her with kid gloves. There has to be concrete explanations, otherwise we will impose severe punishment for skipping our meetings,” Mr Faki said.
“We have issued summonses and failure to honour them, we will impose a fine of up to Sh500,000.”
Mr Faki said the failure by Ms Wahome to honour invites has sabotaged the work of the committee despite Kenyans facing many land problems.
The Mombasa Senator said the committee has visited Kisii, where squatters have petitioned Parliament to intervene and help them get title documents.
“The Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (Kalro) is claiming the land where the squatters are in Kisii. Kalro has been evicting the squatters where they say it is their ancestral land,” Mr Faki said.
He said the committee is handling another petition where residents of Ndhiwa Constituency have complained about the pollution of a lake.
Mr Faki said another petition is currently before the committee where the Busia County government constructed a water pan at an exaggerated cost of Sh24 million.
“There is a colonial dam where this shoddy water pan has been constructed. We visited the site and found that the county did substandard work. The true cost cannot exceed Sh3 million, but Sh24 million has been sunk into the shoddy work. This was a waste of public resources,” Mr Faki said.
He said the committee had also visited Wananchi Ranching Company in Taita Taveta County, where the High Court in Voi ruled against the government, which had acquired the parcel and settled about 1,300 squatters.
“The court issued a decree to say that the land belongs to a person who did not sell the land to the government,” Mr Faki said.
The Voi court ruled in favour of Fatuma Mohammed, Asha Mohammed, and Wananchi Ranching Limited, who had sued Wananchi Estates Limited, Harris Horn Alias Harry Horn, the Settlement Fund Trustees, the Commissioner of Lands, the Attorney General, and the National Land Commission.
Despite the defendants entering appearance in the case, they did not file any statement of defence, nor did they participate in the trial despite service by the plaintiffs.
Justice E.K. Wabwoto ruled on October 18, 2024, in favour of Fatuma Mohammed and Asha Mohammed.
“A declaration be and is hereby issued that LR No 1294 - CR 20403 situated in Mwatate belongs to Wananchi Ranching (Directed Agricultural) Limited,” the judge ruled.
“A permanent injunction be and is hereby issued restraining the defendants by themselves, their agents, servants, employees, attorneys, assigns and/or any other of their representatives from selling, disposing, evicting, alienating, demarcating, issuing of titles and interfering with the Plaintiffs quiet possession or in any way dealing with LR No 12924 CR 20403.”
The judge also issued an order declaring the transfer of the suit property to the 3rd defendant (Settlement Fund Trustees), and all consequential transfers are null and void.
Mr Faki said the committee also visited Mombasa to address historical land injustices. “The Lands Ministry has been a big let down to the committee by stalling our work,” Mr Faki said.
