High Court Rules Parliament Cannot Set Timelines on National Land Commission
The ruling followed a petition filed by activist and Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah, challenging the National Land Commission (Amendment) Act, which sought to limit the Commission’s determinations to one year and the implementation of remedies to three years. The court found the provisions unconstitutional
By : Mweru Mbugua
The High Court has declared that Parliament cannot impose timelines on the National Land Commission (NLC) in carrying out its constitutional mandate to investigate and recommend redress for historical land injustices
The ruling followed a petition filed by activist and Busia Senator Okiya Omtatah, challenging the National Land Commission (Amendment) Act, which sought to limit the Commission’s determinations to one year and the implementation of remedies to three years. The court found the provisions unconstitutional
“It was not for Parliament to limit the period. This undermines the mandate of a constitutional body when the Constitution itself does not set timelines,” the court ruled
Omtatah argued that the imposed timelines were designed to prevent victims of historical land injustices from seeking compensation, particularly in light of the Commission’s chronic underfunding and the large backlog of unresolved claims
He also challenged earlier restrictive provisions, including a ten-year limit
Delivering the judgment, Justice Chacha Mwita emphasized that the Constitution is a living document whose provisions must be interpreted harmoniously, “to interpret but not to destroy each other.”
The court noted that Section 14(9) of the challenged Act is unconstitutional, as the NLC’s review and redress functions are not tied to any timeframe under the Constitution
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Similarly, Section 15, which covers historical land injustices from 1895 to August 2010, does not impose deadlines for processing claims
The High Court further ruled that Parliament lacks the power under Article 67(e) to enact legislation that curtails the constitutional mandates of the Commission
Any attempt to limit the admission and processing of historical land injustice claims to a fixed period is therefore inconsistent with the Constitution
As a result, the court struck down the Amendment Act to the extent that it sought to curtail the NLC’s longstanding mandate
