Land companies ordered to surrender documents – Weekly Citizen

Land buying firms in Ruiru and Juja have been directed by the ministry of Lands and Physical Planning to surrender their land membership registers; mother title, maps and other related documents within a week so that the ministry can fasttrack issuance of title deeds.

Ruiru subcounty deputy county commissioner Geoffrey Ithai said the move was taken after the ongoing Ruiru land clinic established that most of the land buying companies had taken decades to issue title deeds to their members.

He said the firms were siphoning cash from unsuspecting land owners. Ithai said some of them had stolen and sold members’ land while others multiple-allocated land as others demand a lot of cash in terms of fee for clearance and issuance of title deeds.

He noted another issue that hampered the issuance of title deeds was protracted leadership row and court cases that have been rampant in these companies.

He said the companies’ directors had the responsibility to issue title deeds to members. He said directors who stole and sold members land remained cursed. Others ended up in jail as their families fought over ill gotten wealth while others were killed in revenge.

Ruiru MP Simon Ng’ang’a King’ara said Ruiru subcounty had 513 land buying companies. He said by the end of the land clinic on November 6, the ministry intends to issue 30,000 title deeds. He urged directors to solve their wrangles amicably and out of court.

He, however, regretted that Githunguri Land Buying company had not issued title deeds to members who bought land several decades ago. Githunguri Ranching Company chairman John Maina said poor elderly members were being exempted in paying clearance fee of Sh20,000.

He condemned Kiambu county government for shortchanging his company by declining to hand over a title deed of an 82-acre land which they exchanged with the government for the construction of a sewerage system funded by World Bank.

“We surrendered our 82-acre land to the county in exchange of their land. I facilitated issuance of the title deed for them but to date, the county has declined to release the title deed of the land we exchanged with,” said Maina.