Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has contradicted Interior CS Fred Matiang'i's statement on the controversial Ruaraka land.
Appearing before a Senate committee, Amina disregarded Matiang'i and Education PS Belio Kipsang's internal report to authorise Ksh1.5 billion payments for the land.
Fresh documents tabled in Parliament on Monday revealed that a team appointed by the Ministry of Education to investigate the land’s ownership had concluded that the parcel occupied by Ruaraka High School and Drive-In Primary was public.
[caption caption="Education CS Amina Mohamed together with PS Belio Kipsang"]
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According to the report, the land was surrendered for public use by Drive-In Estate, a sister company to Afrison Import Export Limited, as a mandatory condition for subdivision of the 96-acre piece of land.
"From the documents availed from the school, it was evident that the surrender of a portion of land for a primary and secondary school for the public utility was mandatory for approval of the subdivision of the Housing Scheme,” the assessment report concluded.
CS Amina further faulted Matiang'i's officials, her predecessor, for not following through the recommendations of the report.
"After the process was initiated by the National Lands Commission, a team was sent out to verify facts on the ground. The team came back with a report. The recommendations entailed in the report were not fully followed," Amina told the Senate Public Accounts Committee.
Additionally, Amina told the Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang' led team that she could not understand why the payment was made in haste.
She wondered: "The letter that we received from the National Lands Commission said that we should urgently compensate for this piece of land. When I read that letter, I had the same question in my mind; that these schools had been in the land for 30 years, why was it so urgent to compensate?
"I have not had any discussion with those who were in office then to find out why there was urgency for compensation. Maybe as per that time, there was certain urgency in addressing the issue. I was not in office at that time," she concluded.
[caption caption="Interior CS Fred Matiang'i together with Education CS Amina Mohamed"]
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