On June 13, 2024, National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah revealed that he wrote to Speaker Moses Wetangula announcing the withdrawal of the Bill.
The controversial Land Laws (Amendment) (Number 2) Bill, 2023, which had proposed to force freehold land owners, property owners who enjoy free ownership for perpetuity and can use the land for any purposes, to pay land rent, tormented Alice Wahome, the Cabinet Secretary nominee for the Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development on Thursday, August 1.
Suna East MP, Junet Mohamed, who was part of the National Assembly Appointments Committee vetting persons nominated for Cabinet Secretary positions by President William Ruto, put Wahome to task regarding the proposed Bill which also targeted ancestral land intending to change to leasehold land.
The CS nominee however clarified that the proposal, which was tabled in Parliament, would have compelled her to make an appearance to deliberate on the areas that would be designated under the proposed Bill.
Image of a piece of land and a title deed. /SARABI REALITY GROUP
“The provision was saying that the Minister will be able to designate the areas which then means you designate through regulations and I would still have had to come to Parliament to allow the designated areas that we would have picked and therefore the proposal by Parliament improved the provision,” she responded.
Matungulu MP Stephen Mule however accused Wahome of trying to divert attention from the contentious proposal which sought to also impose charges on ancestral land, a proposal which came from the Ministry where she was the CS.
According to the Bill, the Land Act 2012 was to be amended by inserting the new section immediately after section 54 which stated that the owner of any freehold land within the boundaries of any urban area or city shall pay an annual land levy equivalent to the land rent charged on a comparable leasehold property of the same size in the same zone. However, agricultural landowners might have been exempt.
“Instead of using too many words, please admit and we move forward because at the end of the day, Kenyans could not accept your proposal and it came from you…it did not come from the House of Parliament, it did not come from Kenyans, it came from your office,” a vexed Mule interjected.
Wahome however affirmed that the proposal had indicated that the CS would designate areas where the levy would be and it was not blanket. Junet however wondered how a CS based in Nairobi could designate land in an area far from the capital city.
“I have said that it is Parliament that was going to give me permission to say where to levy the land,” she answered, to which Samburu West MP Naisula Lesuuda alluded to issues with communication within the dissolved Cabinet.
Lesuuda suggested thorough discussions during public participation if Wahome is appointed, warning that Parliamentarians would not take any contentious Bill presented before them lying down.
On June 13, 2024, National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah revealed that he wrote to Speaker Moses Wetangula announcing the withdrawal of the Bill.
According to the letter, Ichung’wah revealed that there was a myriad of constitutional and legal issues arising from the Bill and that the Executive arm of government had recommended the need for those issues to be addressed.
Net Worth
In 2022, Wahome stated that her net worth stood at Ksh218 million. Wahome revealed that her net worth has grown by Ksh109 million in the last 21 months.
Lands Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome during the launch of the Ardhi Sasa system in Murang’a County on July 8, 2024. /ALICE WAHOME
“It is the properties that have increased in terms of appreciation in value,” she exclaimed. She went on to add, “There was one tenant that was not paying my family rent and they paid about Ksh14 million sometime in March.”
Wahome, who previously served as the Cabinet Secretary for Water, Sanitation and Irrigation under President William Ruto’s administration, attributed her wealth accumulation to joint assets with her husband in 2022.
