The planned expansion of Mama Ngina University in Mutomo village, Gatundu South, has encountered a significant obstacle after the Lands Tribunal stopped efforts to acquire additional land.<\/p>\n
The university, established in 2019 on a 10.3-acre parcel, was seeking to expand by acquiring 40 acres of adjacent land, a move that would have affected around 180 households.<\/p>\n
The expansion is part of a broader vision for the institution, which was initiated by the late former MP Joseph Ngugi.<\/p>\n
In a Special Gazette Notice, the National Land Commission (NLC), on behalf of the Ministry of Education, announced plans to acquire land from approximately 180 households to facilitate the university\u2019s expansion.<\/p>\n
However, some residents opposed the plan and challenged it in court.<\/p>\n
The legal battle culminated on Monday when the Tribunal, chaired by Nabil Orina, ruled in favour of the petitioners, halting any further attempts to acquire the land.<\/p>\n
The Tribunal found that Mama Ngina University College, the second respondent in the case, did not meet the constitutional and statutory requirements for compulsory land acquisition.<\/p>\n
It also criticized the NLC for failing to properly execute its mandate in approving the land acquisition request.<\/p>\n
The Tribunal noted that the Commission for University Education (CUE) had not demonstrated a demand for a new university in the area, especially given the proximity of Kenyatta University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).<\/p>\n
Furthermore, it highlighted that no funds had been allocated for the land acquisition, and there were no clear timelines for when such funds might be made available.<\/p>\n
Orina concluded that the State was unprepared for the acquisition process.<\/p>\n
As a result, the Tribunal declared NLC\u2019s Gazette Notice 10278 of 2021 null and void, citing violations of Article 3 of the Constitution and Sections 107, 110(1), and 111(1A) of the Land Act.<\/p>\n
The ruling was met with jubilation by the petitioners, led by Margaret Njeri, who had fought against the compulsory acquisition.<\/p>\n
Njeri emphasized that the residents were determined not to leave their ancestral land, which holds deep emotional significance, including the graves of their forefathers.<\/p>\n
She also criticized the NLC for failing to conduct proper public participation and not reaching a consensus with the community.<\/p>\n
This decision is a setback for the 179 locals who had agreed to cede their quarter-acre plots, expecting to receive KSh 2.12 billion in compensation.<\/p>\n
In May 2022, the NLC brokered a deal to resolve the compensation dispute between the Mutomo Land Owners Association and the government.<\/p>\n
Mama Ngina University, a constituent college of Kenyatta University, is located about 100 meters off Kenyatta Road in Mutomo village, approximately 14.5 kilometres from Thika Road.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The post Expansion of Mama Ngina Uni. in limbo as Lands Tribunal halts acquisition of 40 acres<\/a> first appeared on KBC<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The planned expansion of Mama Ngina University in Mutomo village, Gatundu South, has encountered a significant obstacle after the Lands Tribunal stopped efforts to acquire additional land. The university, established in 2019 on a 10.3-acre parcel, was seeking to expand by acquiring 40 acres of adjacent land, a move that would have affected around 180 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}