𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐋𝐂 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐬 𝐌𝐏𝐬 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐦𝐢𝐝𝐬𝐭 𝐁𝐮𝐝𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐂𝐮𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬

The National Assembly Committee of Lands held a meeting with the Principal Secretary State Department on Land and Physical Planning, Hon. Nixon Korir, and the National Land Commission (NLC) Commissioner, Hon. Kazungu Kambi, to review the Supplementary Estimates No. I.

The Ministry of Lands and the NLC are seeking support from the Committee of Lands to receive exchequer releases. Despite the allocation budgetary allocation, the National Treasury has not released funds, leading to delays in the completion of several land offices.

“Land offices in Kitui, Mbeere, Bomet, Ol Kalau, Nandi are over 90% complete. Despite the State Department’s budget not being reduced in this year’s Supplementary Estimates, the National Treasury has not released funds to complete and hand over these lands offices,” added PS Korir.

In a session chaired by Hon. Dr. Gideon Ochanda, Committee Members expressed concern with the delayed release in funds from the National Treasury lawmakers’ calling on the National Treasury to expedite the release of budgetary allocations.

The Supplementary Estimates No. I for FY 2023/24 also proposed to reduce the recurrent expenditure for the National Land Commission by Ksh. 112.7 million. “We urge the Committee on Lands to intervene and support the reinstatement of the Kshs 112.7 million. Without these funds, NLC will be unable to function,” said NLC Commissioner Kazungu Kambi.

Regarding pending bills, Legislators noted that the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning had pending bills amounting to Ksh. 625 million, while the National Land Commission had pending bills totaling Ksh. 654 million.

Notably, Members of the Committee on Lands acknoweldged that the State Department collected revenue from land rent, stamp duty, and stand premia on town plots amounting to Kshs. 3.47 Billion surpassing previous targets.

The Committee noted that the State Department of Lands and the National Land Commission have the potential to generate significant revenue for the country if sufficiently facilitated to fast-track the implementation of geo-mapping of land across the country and opening land offices.