Probe million acres in Lamu, Uhuru told

National Land Commission Chairman Dr Mohammed Swazuri. He said the commission was waiting for official documents before the revocation order can be effected. PHOTO | FILE  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• During an interview in Mombasa on Sunday, Mr Mohammed Mbwana, who said he was the chairperson of the Shungwa Welfare Association, described the revoked title deed as a drop in the ocean when compared to the “grabbed land in the county”.
• “Some of the crooks behind this scheme backdated their title deeds to conceal their shady deals,” he said.
• “After repossessing the land, to whom does it go? We expect indigenous communities who have been living as squatters on their ancestral land to be settled there,” he said.

By NATION TEAM
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The half a million acres of land whose title deeds the President annulled last week is merely the tip of the iceberg, civil society groups at the Coast claimed on Sunday.

Another 869,000 acres (347,600 hectares) of grabbed land also needs urgent action, non-government organisations calling themselves the Save Lamu Group, said.

The National Land Commission chairman Mohammed Swazuri, when asked whether the process of revoking the deeds will start on Monday, he said the commission was waiting for official documents before the revocation order can be effected.

President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday night revoked allocations for 500,000 acres of public land he said was grabbed between 2011 and 2012. He said the land had been allocated to 22 entities irregularly.

During an interview in Mombasa on Sunday, Mr Mohammed Mbwana, who said he was the chairperson of the Shungwa Welfare Association, described the revoked title deed as a drop in the ocean when compared to the “grabbed land in the county”.

“Save for a few entities found around Witu, the rest of the land whose titles he (the President) ordered revoked is within areas alienated for the proposed Lamu port project”.

Mr Mbwana claimed that influential Mombasa, Nairobi and Lamu businessmen and senior politicians from both the ruling Jubilee Coalition and the opposition Cord feature in a report his group had sent to the National Land Commission.

He said they had already forwarded names of companies and individuals in a 1,000-page file to the commission for investigation and possible prosecution. Some of the entities named by Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu also feature in the list given to the commission.

BACKDATED TITLE DEEDS

“Some of the crooks behind this scheme backdated their title deeds to conceal their shady deals,” he said.

Lamu governor Issa Timamy called for a forensic audit of land ownership, especially the ranches that have been dormant for decades.

He has also suggested that title deeds be issued to Lamu locals who have been living on their ancestral land for centuries without any legal documentation.

“We should also have grazing corridors for herding communities like Orma and Somalis to avoid conflicts between herders and farmers,” he said.

Speaking by phone, the chairman of Save Lamu, Mr Abubakar Al-Amudy, challenged the government to be sincere in its actions, saying the problem of illegal land transactions in the county required serious action, not politics.

“After repossessing the land, to whom does it go? We expect indigenous communities who have been living as squatters on their ancestral land to be settled there,” he said.
He also challenged the government to conduct a full audit of land ownership in the county and explore legal procedures to give it back to its “original owners”.

President Uhuru’s decision to revoke the title deeds has attracted mixed reactions on social media and FM radio stations in the Coast region, with the public challenging the government to name all owners of illegally-acquired land in the Coast.

A statement signed by the Muslim for Human Rights (Muhuri) deputy executive director, Ms Rahma Gulam, asked for the revocation of title deeds for all illegally acquired land.

“There is an urgent need for the government to revoke title deeds to address the land historical injustices at the Coast,” she said and asked the President to use the right institutions mandated by the Constitution such as the National Land Commission to deal with the emotive issue.

“This is because it is known for a fact that the Ministry of Land has been the main source of land problems at the Coast and we as Muhuri and on behalf of the community that we serve have no faith in the Ministry of Lands in tackling the land problem at the Coast,” she said.

Reported by Born Maina, Mwakera Mwajefa and Galgalo Bocha