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| Baringo senator Gideon Moi |
Parliament has summoned former Baringo senator Gideon Moi to explain the status of 5,000 acres of land belonging to Rift Valley Institute of Science and Technology.
The former lawmaker will also explain to Parliament the status of ownership documents of 200 acres of land valued at Sh1.08 billion on which the institute sits.
The Board of Trustees chaired by Gideon Moi is privately managing the parcels in question.
National Assembly’s Public Investment Committee on Governance and Education claim the land held in trust should be reverted back to the college.
The committee heard that the local community held a fundraiser in 1972 where they raised money to buy the land for the college.
A board of trustees was then tasked to manage the land on behalf of the community and are yet to handover the over 5,000 acres to the college.
Instead, they only donated 200 acres which the college sits on and which the Board of Trustees continues to hold the title documents.
“In 972, the community came together to buy land, 200 acres were set aside to develop Rift Valley Institute of technology,” institute’s principal Sammy Chemoiwa said.
“For the rest of the land it is the Board of Governors to answer. I can only talk about 200 acres that is under my jurisdiction.”
Committee chairman Wanami Wamboka citing the TVETS Act 2014, accused the trustees of irregularly holding onto the college land.
According to Wamboka, by dint of community coming together to raise the funds makes the parcels public properties.
“Tvet Act as revised in 2014, all trustees were required to handover properties they held in trust to the public,” Wamboka said.
The Bumula MP said the committee would summon the former Baringo senator and members of the trustee in three weeks’ time to compel them to surrender the public land.
“These were not Moi’s properties, if he wanted to donate land he would have given a portion of his many acres of land,” Wamboka said.
“It is just fair that we summon all the trustees including Moi so that we take this land back to the public. Public land will go back to the public at whatever cost.”
The Wamboka-led committee was meeting Chemoiwa who was responding to audit queries raised by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu.
The committee intends to visit the institution by next month where the land issue will be discussed.
The Board of Trustees as well as the institute’s Board of Governors will be part of the fact-finding meeting.
The auditor had flagged the 200 acres noting that the institute could not provide ownership documents despite massive investment of taxpayers’ money.
“The Board of Trustees have assigned the institute to operate within 200 acres, ” Chemoiwa told the committee adding that he cannot conclusively talk about the status of the two parcels.
The committee will seek to establish amongst others who the real owners of the two parcels in contention are.
The house team will also ascertain the current status of the process of acquiring the title deed.
by LUKE AWICH