Lands tribunal faults NLC over Sh90M irregular compensation

A tribunal has accused the National Lands Commission (NLC) of perpetuating a "conspiracy of silence" in a disputed irregular compensation of land worth over Sh90 million in Athi River Machakos County.

The land tribunal said that they were disappointed by NLC's failure to respond to the claim by Antony Mwandandu seeking compensation on his 0.79 hectares acquired by NLC for the expansion of the second carriageway of the Athi River – Machakos turnoff road project in 2017.

Justices Nabil Orina and George Supeyo said that NLC's failure to enter appearance and file a response in the matter has only made the situation worse, and termed it as a classical case of dereliction of duty.

"We must also express our disappointment at the failure of the Respondent (NLC) to file a response in such a matter which involves substantial amounts of taxpayers’ money. Is there a “conspiracy of silence”? One must necessarily wonder," said Justices Orina.

The tribunal said it is important that the NLC safeguards public coffers at all times when determining compensation for compulsorily acquired land.

The judges concluded that the process of compulsory acquisition in respect of the suit property was so irregular to the extent that they couldn't determine what Mwandandu was truly entitled to.

"These figures, which seem to have been “plucked from the air” coupled with the “conspiracy of silence” we alluded to earlier lead us to the conclusion that the same cannot be relied upon to make a determination on what the Appellant  (Mwandandu) is entitled to," said Justice Orina.

In his petition, Mwandandu accused NLC of revising the compensation from Sh92,933,322 to Sh90,728,208 and later dwindled further to Sh37,425,383 without proper justification.

Mwandandu said his valuation was Sh77,540,190.

The judges said NLC's initial award cannot be upheld because the same was later revised due to an error on the acreage of the suit property acquired from 0.8176 to 0.7982 hectares.

The judges noted that Mwandandu did not challenge the said revision. 

The tribunal said it is curious that the initial award and the subsequent award of Sh90,728,208 is significantly more than what the appellant valued for his property and requested to be considered in compensating him.

"For the above reasons, we reach the conclusion that the tail end of the process of compulsory acquisition in respect of the suit property was so irregular to the extent that it is impossible for the tribunal to make a determination of what the Appellant is truly entitled to," said. Justice Orina.

The tribunal set aside all the compensation made earlier and directed NLC to conduct a fresh valuation of Mwandandu’s land jointly with valuers from the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Settlement and to issue an award within 45 days in compliance with the law.