Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah has raised alarm over what he termed as a concealed scheme to grab public land through sections of the recently signed Privatisation Act, which President William Ruto assented to on October 15.
Omtatah alleged that lawmakers inserted ambiguous provisions in the law that could allow private shareholders acquiring state-owned entities, such as the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), to automatically take over vast tracts of land belonging to the public.
According to the senator, certain clauses within the Act could be exploited by private investors to gain ownership of prime public land under the guise of buying state assets.
He said the law, as it stands, for instance, now potentially allows for automatic transfer of property rights covering extensive KPC infrastructure that stretches from Mombasa to Malaba.
Omtatah accused unnamed individuals of using the privatisation process as a smokescreen to acquire valuable public land, arguing that the law should have made a clear distinction between privatising state corporations and transferring ownership of the public land on which those entities sit.
“Under the Constitution of Kenya, public land cannot be privatised. So, in privatising Kenya Pipeline Company, you cannot privatise the land it sits on; you can only privatise everything except the land,” Omtatah said.
The senator warned that allowing such provisions to stand would open the door for cartels and land grabbers to strip Kenya of strategic public assets, particularly land that hosts critical national infrastructure such as pipelines, refineries, and depots.
Further, he maintained that public land is protected under the Constitution and cannot be transferred to private ownership through legislation.
“These land grabbers are after the land that is in public assets. There is nowhere Parliament can legislate for public land to be privatised; you can only increase the size of public land by compulsory acquisition, but you cannot privatise public land under the 2010 Constitution,” he added.
The Land (Amendment) Law, 2024, signed by President Ruto, among other things, mandates the Lands Register to publish a notice in the Kenya Gazette specifying particulars of any land registration involving public land before the registration process is finalised.
Omtatah further revealed that he had intended to present his objections and proposals during the Bill’s debate in the National Assembly but was unable to do so due to House Standing Orders, which bar senators from addressing proceedings in the lower house unless invited through a special motion.
The developments come after the government approved plans to privatise the KPC, opening the door for Kenyans to buy shares in one of the country’s important state corporations in a bid to raise revenue and attract private sector investment.
According to a notice by the Privatisation Commission, the decision followed the Cabinet’s approval of the privatisation method and subsequent endorsement by the National Assembly on October 1, 2025.
The commission further stated that KPC will be privatised through an Initial Public Offer (IPO) of shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), in line with the Privatisation Act, 2005.
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