Siaya Senator James Orengo has denied adverse involvement in the irregular land allocations recently revoked by president Kenyatta.
The Senator accused the Lands Secretary Charity Ngilu of engaging in diversionary antics on land grabbing at the coast.
"I’m ready to appear before the commission and reveal all that happened when I was Lands minister. We know the government has brought up the land issue to politically fight Raila at the Coast, but we are ready to deal with them," Orengo said.
Orengo's statement comes after it surfaced that Jubilee operatives were scheming to show that the former lands minister never acted on irregular land allocations anywhere in the country, including Lamu.
However, in 2010 Orengo revoked titles to five plots that belonged to Kenya Wildlife Service in Lamu but had been illegally allocated.
According to documents being circulated by Jubilee, Orengo is accused of approving the allocation of a total of 24,000 hectares to two of the 22 mentioned companies. He reportedly approved allocations to Rusken International Ltd., 16,000ha and Shanghai Investments Ltd., 8,000ha.
The documents indicate that the chairman of the then Lamu County Council, Abdukassim Ahmed, wrote to the minister, notifying him of a resolution by a council meeting to re-allocate part of the land which had initially been allocated to Mat International.
Orengo's office reportedly received the letter on February 24, 2012 and the minister made comments on the letter, asking the Permanent Secretary Angote to comply with the minutes. Angote then approved the directives.
In another case, assistant commissioner of lands Muthomi Ngaruthi wrote an internal memo to Orengo through the Permanent Secretary's office. In the memo, Ngaruthi sought clearance to process allotment documents for Fincorp Investments and Shanghai Investments Ltd in relation to land which had been allocated to Akiro and Bujra ranches in 1976.
However, Ngaruthi's approval was subject to proof of ability to develop the same for the benefit of Lamu residents.
The then Lamu District Commissioner, Samuel Ikua, also mentioned in the allocation allegedly chaired the district development committee that recommended the allocation to Rusken.
“This is to inform you that the Lamu District Development Committee, during its deliberations held on 30th January, 2009, at Lamu County Hall, recommended that Rusken International Limited be allocated 16,000 hectares for the purpose of sugar production. The project was welcomed by the members as it will spur growth in the county by raising the necessary revenue and offering employment to the youths,” Ikua says in the letter.
Ndegwa seconded the minutes of the council meeting that resolved to allocate the land originally given to Mat International to three other companies which include Rusken.
However, the companies allocated the land were to be removed if they failed to carry out the projects within five years.
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