The National Land Commission (NLC)
chairman, Muhammad Swazuri, was yesterday thrown out of Parliament where
a petition seeking his removal from office for allegedly taking bribes
was being heard.
Dr Swazuri was Wednesday evening
declared a hostile witness when he refused to table documents earlier
ordered by MPs citing a court order stopping the National Assembly Lands
committee from hearing the petition seeking his removal from office.
Attempts
by Dr Swazuri to return to the committee and serve the court order were
thwarted by committee chairman Alex Mwiru who declared him and his
lawyer Tom Ojienda strangers and ordered the serjeant-at-arms to lock
them out.
This means that the committee will proceed to
take evidence from witnesses and file its report to the House without
Dr Swazuri’s input.
The team heard that Dr Swazuri
defied a unit of NLC and ordered payment of Sh82.8 million to a
Tanzanian grain handling firm for land the government targeted for
acquisition to build the standard gauge railway (SGR).
The land was also being claimed by another company, Damla Enterprises Limited, which is behind the petition.
The
owner of Damla Enterprises, Mugo Njeru, told the committee that the NLC
boss received a Sh1.2 million bribe to process compensation for land in
his favour.
He added that Dr Swazuri was to receive an additional
Sh25 million if the petitioner successfully got paid for the seven-acre
piece of land worth Sh43 million.
Mr Njeru told MPs how
Dr Swazuri, through an aide Elijah Fadhili Yaa together with lawyer S.
Ruwa, allegedly coerced him to pay the bribe dubbed Mbuzi in order not
to miss out on compensation for railway land
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