NLC optimistic it will solve long-standing Kilifi land disputes

This is after they spent five days receiving evidence of claims made by landowners and squatters at the Watamu Social Hall in Kilifi North constituency.

NLC Vice-Chairperson Gertrude Nguku said commissioners had received evidence regarding the ownership of about 104 parcels of land being claimed by multiple owners, including squatters who claimed to have lived on the disputed pieces of land for decades.

Nguku explained that the scheme started as an adjudication process between 1974 and 1978 during which people were issued with titles under the Registered Land Act (RLA). However, they were ordered to return the titles after the land was declared government land.

She said some people returned the title but others refused, forcing the then Minister for Lands to declare an embargo on land transactions with a view to carry out investigations and come up with a workable solution.

“The minister then created a settlement scheme on the parcels that were already being claimed by multiple people, thus complicating the already existing problem as this was a process on top of two others,” she told journalists during a press briefing.

The commission started investigating disputes on the settlement scheme in 2015 and so far 334 of the 440 disputes have been resolved, with two titles being revoked, leaving 104 pieces of land that the commission believes will get a solution this time around.

“After this exercise, we will retreat and consider the evidence adduced before it to enable the commission to determine who should be given title deeds since the commission has a very important mandate of advising on registration of land rights,” she said.

Nguku said some of the matters were historical land injustices, adding that in September this year, the commission received more than 2,100 claims of historical land injustices country-wide out of which 600 had already been cleared by the commission.

She said that in an effort to streamline the dispute resolution process, the commission had partnered with the Judiciary to ensure that cases are promptly handled to avoid conflicting resolutions.

“We are in the process of setting up a policy where the courts can refer these matters to us when pending in court so that we can be able to assist with resolutions and take that judgment to court for rulings,” she said.

Nguku also said that the most important thing to be done was for counties to adopt spatial planning which will clearly state land use and avoid conflicts in future.

Residents, especially squatters who talked to journalists declared their confidence in the NLC, saying there were indications that there was a seriousness in the current process unlike in the past when confusion was the order of the day.

They urged the commission to expedite the process so they can have their land ownership regularized to enable them to continue with developments.

Maurice Kadzagamba, said he had lived on plot 151 for more than 20 years and had even constructed two permanent houses on the land but was forcefully evicted and his houses demolished by goons under police protection.

Kennedy Kaunda who has lived in the area for 13 years said that he came to discover he was a squatter after a purported landowner showed up at his home.

He noted that in previous allocations, government officers allocated themselves huge chunks of land and vanished.

“People are very poor and cannot develop because of fear of demolitions via court orders. The titles were revoked but we wonder what happened that the owners still possess them,” he said

Hamisi Kombe, another squatter who has lived on the land for 25 years said that their patience for justice was running out and called on the commission to resolve the issue.