The National Assembly Public Investment Committee on Commercial Affairs and Energy on Wednesday, February 14, raised concerns after two government offices clashed over the ownership of pieces of public land.
According to the Committee, the Office of the President and the Nairobi City County Government are at loggerheads over the ownership of two parcels of land within the Kenya International Convention Center (KICC).
Pokot South Member of Parliament David Pkosing, who serves as the committee's chairperson called upon the CEO of the National Lands Commission (NLC) and Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome to present themselves before the committee on Thursday, February 22, where they will be expected to give viable strategies on how to resolve the issue.
The committee pointed out that the land parcels in question were not part of the main piece of KICC land valued at Ksh2.2 billion where the main building tower stands as pointed out by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu.
"This is a very weighty issue. Everybody including my constituents in the village knows KICC is government land. We must speedily get to the bottom of this matter," Pkosing remarked.
The members, in a meeting with the KICC management, NLC officials and representatives from the Ministry of Tourism, noted that the concerns arose from a report from the Office of the Auditor General.
Per the committee, the Nairobi County Government was claiming ownership of the land hosting the Garden Square Restaurant adjacent to Harambee House.
Meanwhile, the MP noted that the Comesa Grounds adjacent to the Supreme Court that hosts the portrait of founding President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta had been gazetted as a public monument. This further led to ownership wrangles between KICC management and the Office of the President.
Members of the committee emphasised that the ownership of KICC and its surrounding land space was a matter of National Security and ought to be resolved urgently.
The MPs explained that this was because the building sits on a Government Square which is adjacent to other key state offices including Parliament, the Office of the President, the Supreme Court and others along Harambee Avenue.
"Pkosing noted this was a serious query as KICC stands to suffer hefty losses in assets if the two parcels are not placed under the Convention's ownership," read a statement from Parliament.
In response, the acting CEO at KICC Patricia Ondeng revealed that efforts to get allocation of the land were futile. She noted that the management had written to NLC on the issue but they never got a response.
The ownership of the Ksh2.2 billion parcel of land where the tower sits elicited debate in July 2021 after the Auditor General report revealed that the land was not registered under the State's name.
Recently, the government fronted a plan to privatise KICC in a bid to increase revenue collection.
