Court revokes appointment of chief land registrar

The Employment Court revoked the Lands Principal Secretary Nixon Korir’s decision to appoint David Nyambaso Nyandoro as the Chief Land Registrar.

Justice Bryan Ongaya on Friday May 25 reinstated Peter Mburu Ng’ang’a as the Chief Land Registrar to the office and barred both land Cabinet Secretary Alice Wahome and her PS Korir as well as the Public Service Commission from interfering with his work.

“An order of permanent injunction is hereby issued to restrain the PS and CS by themselves or by their agents from subjecting Mburu Ng’ang’a to unfair labour practices,” Justice Ongaya ordered.

The judge found that the appointment of Nyandoro as the Chief Land Registrar by Koriri instead of Mburu undermined the functions and powers of the Public Service Commission under Article 243 and as established under Article 233 of the Constitution.

Ongaya nullified the letter Korir dated November 17, 2023 that purported to appoint Nyandoro as the Chief Land Registrar on the ground that all processes of his appointment were illegal and void.

He found that Korir’s deliberate delay to implement the PSC’s decision of appointment of Mburu as the Chief Land Registrar according to the decision the Commission made and communicated to the PS on September 28, 2023 was without any justifiable reason was unlawful and contravened the rights to fair labour practices and fair administrative actions under Articles 41 and 47 of the Constitution.

“A declaration that the Public Service Commission’s decision purportedly rescinding the appointment of Peter Mburu Ng’ang’a and the decision purportedly recalling the letter conveying appointment

of the said Peter Mburu Ng’ang’a and then the purported Commission’s decision appointing David Nyandoro and conveying that that appointment and all processes and communications flowing therefrom were all void acts and therefore a nullity and set aside,” he ordered.

The court further upheld the PSC’s decision appointing Mburu as the Chief Land Registrar and the Commission’s letter conveying the same on September 23, 2023.

Justice Ongaya also directed that the Principal Secretary State Department for Lands and Physical Planning and the authorized officer forthwith convey to Mburu the Commission’s decision of September 28, 2023, that Mburu be appointed to fill the advertised post in the grade of Chief Land Registrar with effect from September 28, 2023.

Upon revoking Nyandoro’s appointment as the Chief Land Registrar, the Judge however directed that anything he done for the last six months since December 7, 2023 as Chief Land Registrar shall be deemed valid and lawfully done except otherwise established.

This threw operations at the ministry into confusion.

The decision by the court comes after activist Aggrey Wafula moved to court stopped the appointment of Nyandoro as the Chief Land Registrar by Korir in November last year.

In his appointment, Korir told staff at the Ministry of Lands to sup- port Nyandoro.

The activist had contended that PS Korir’s decision to appoint Nyandoro was done unlawfully and against the law.