According to the National Lands Commission Investors, Kenya's mining and oil sectors have been operating on illegally awarded licenses, while paying fees, rents, and royalties to unauthorized government agencies.
The commission is responsible for all public land and thus mandated by law to collect all payments and issue licenses for land on behalf of the government.
NLC is basing its claims on the National Lands Act that stipulates that a lease or license for the public land shall be issued by the commission.
"All royalties belong to the government but must be paid to the commission which distributes to the relevant government agencies and the communities," said Mohamed Swazuri, NLC chairman.
He further said that while the commission has been silent on the issue, it intends to start enforcing its mandate of licensing all activities on public land and collecting the relevant rents, royalties and other forms of payments on behalf of the government.
"We want to lay the foundation of engagement with stakeholders, county governments, and relevant ministries," he said.
In proclaiming custody of all public land, the NLC has opened a war front with the ministries of Energy and Petroleum, and that of Mining, which has been issuing investors with prospecting, exploration and mining licenses.
"As far as I am concerned, the issuing of exploration licenses in the oil industry is the mandate of the Cabinet Secretary [ministry of energy and petroleum] based on the advice of a special committee," Petroleum principal secretary Andrew Kamau told The East African.
The NLC is also headed for a clash with the National Treasury for seeking to directly receive royalties paid by mining companies in the country.
The claim by NLC is bound to further antagonize investors who were already jittery over regulatory uncertainties, national and county governments demands, local community resistance to projects and pressure from civil society particularly on the issue of environmental conservation.
The bombshell by the NLC comes on the heels of a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers that regulatory uncertainties are among key factors making it impossible for companies and investors to operate in Africa's oil and gas sector.
"It is disheartening that governments are not catching up to demands and calls from oil and gas companies to ensure regulatory certainty to players who are looking to invest in hydrocarbons," states the report.