Thursday, July 13, 2023 – Lands Principal Secretary Nixon Korir has exposed a trick squatters use to manipulate the government into giving them inflated compensation.
Speaking while appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Lands, Korir specifically highlighted an incident involving individuals allocated plots at the Boyani Settlement Scheme in Kilifi, where the locals allegedly engaged in unauthorized land transactions with unidentified parties and simultaneously sought compensation from the government.
“We have squatters that have been allocated land, then sell and move elsewhere or use the courts to claim that they have been discriminated against,” he stated.
He emphasized that these tricks hindered the government from distinguishing between genuine squatters who require compensation.
Naivasha MP Jane Kihara, the committee vice chair, added that reverting the land back to the squatters would result in the buyers filing petitions in court seeking justice.
“Even if the land is reverted back to the squatters, what happens? The land was not available for sale,” she remarked.
On his part, Lands Cabinet Secretary Zachary Njeru explained that the irregular and illegal land transfer contradicted Section 6 of the Lands Act.
However, the committee was not impressed by the ministry’s poor record-keeping.
“If the Ministry does not have records, who is expected to have them,” Bondo MP Gideon Ochanda questioned.
They added that the poor record-keeping in the Boyani Settlement Scheme and other settlements had raised concerns regarding transparency and accountability in land transactions.
According to the committee members who had visited the scene, they found the scheme fenced, leaving the residents locked out and puzzled.
The MPs sought to understand the process of land ownership and questioned how the fraud was conducted without the ministry’s knowledge.
MPs discovered that a section of the land had been occupied by a cement company in the county.
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