Residents call on govt to stop any activity

Residents of Maji ya Chumvi land adjudication section in Chengoni Ward, Kinango sub-county Kwale County, are calling on the government to stop any activity on the disputed parcel of land until all matters are resolved.

Led by reverend Fredrick Kanato Ndaikwa of the East Africa Pentecostal Church (EAPC) Samburu Parish, they have accused a section of politicians from the area working in cohort with officials from the lands ministry to allocate land to cartels.

The community said that the land in question measuring over 60,000 hectares belongs to the three clans of Mwamundu Mwayawa, Mwamundu Kichororo and Wachanda who have lived harmoniously for over fifty years.

They raised concern that since the land was declared an adjudication section in 2014, cartels have come in to take away land from the residents.

About 500 title deeds are set to be released which the residents have disputed saying that they were not involved in the process as a matter is already in court adding that the titles do not reflect the exact hectares on the ground.

“We are calling on the government to stop any activity of adjudicating the land until the dispute is resolved, any title issued should be revoked with immediate effect,” said Kanato.

They have already petitioned the government to stop the issuance of the title deeds as they want the subdivision and allocation of the land to be done fresh.

“Cartels working with land officers went to court to push for the release of the titles. The land CS should send her officers and our local leaders on the ground to come solve the matter. We know our boundaries and we will not allow cartels to divide us and take away our land,” he said.

His sentiments were echoed by Mohammed Menza Yama who insisted that the titles should reflect the real hectares of land each family owns.

He said that the adjudication was faulty as the residents were not fully involved in the exercise.

“The adjudication was not done right, for instance our plot number 186 measures 1540 hectors. But in the title deed it reads only 0.73 hectares,” he said.

Nyota Mgandi, an elder of the Mwamundu Kichororo clan, asked the government to allow local leaders led by Kinango sub county DCC, chiefs and village elders to come in and resolve the matter before it gets out of hand.

“We have our local leaders who can assist in solving the matter. Let them do it, they know our boundaries very well,” he said.

The Lands Ministry and Lands Commission had previously revoked 70 title deeds that were fraudulently acquired in the area.

This was after an audit chaired by the Coast regional commissioner John Elungata showed that some parcels of land exchanged hands fraudulently through illegal allocations.

The audit further revealed that the committee which was carrying out the land adjudication in the area had also illegally allocated themselves parcels of land which the RC ordered to be surrendered back.