Activist OKiya Omtatah has moved to court to stop Parliament from vetting the recently nominated chair and members to the National Land Commission.
Omtatah wants the nine nominations by President Uhuru Kenyatta quashed for not following due process.
“Court to Issue interim orders suspending the nomination by President Uhuru Kenyatta of the Gershom Bw’omanwa for appointment as chairperson and members for appointment as members,” the petition reads in part.
The activist argues that the selection panel was incompetently constituted by omitting members required to represent stakeholders under Paragraph 1(d) of the First Schedule to the NLC Act, 2012.
The said section states that two persons of the opposite gender, nominated by the Governmental Organizations Council, who have demonstrated competence and capacity in matters related to natural resources.
Omtatah accuses the selection panel of conducting the recruitment exercise in an opaque manner including by failing to publish the results of the interviews it conducted.
He claims that the panel recommended to the president for appointment to the position of members of commission persons who were not shortlisted and were not interviewed for those positions.
According to Omtatah the Executive erred by failing to uphold regional balance while nominating the persons to be approved for vacancies on the NLC.
“The principle of transparency requires the selection panel to publish the order of suitability of appointment for all individuals interviewed for the two posts,”
Omtatah claims that the president appointed Esther Murugi and Tiyah Galgalo Ali to be members of the commission yet they were never shortlisted and interviewed for the position of member.
“The two were shortlisted and interviewed for the position of chairperson, but were not successful, hence there is no way they can qualify to be nominated for appointment to be members of the commission,” the petition reads.
