Gov’t raises alarm over public land grabbing

The Ministry of land has raised a red flag over the rising cases of land grabbing and misuse of private land in the country.

Addressing the Ministry of Land officials on Wednesday, October 7, Lands Cabinet Secretary, Prof Jacob Kaimenyi, said the National Land Commission (NLC) was developing a policy to ensure that land is not used haphazardly noting that it is worrying to see people grabbing government land.

He said that land belonging to Kenya Army and Prisons are the most affected with huge chuncks having been grabbed by private developers.

Prof Kaimenyi at the same time appealed to the locals to use recognized traditional community systems in handling land disputes instead of resorting to law courts.

He explained that the traditional systems were much faster compared to court processes where cases drag for several years.

Prof Kaimenyi further said that his Ministry had initiated dialogue with individuals who allegedly grabbed parcels of land belonging to the prison department as a way of reaching a solution.

The CS also urged the lands officers to cooperate with the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) who were sent to the department to conduct systems audits adding that their aim was to determine weaknesses and how to get rid of them.

He added that 600,000 more title deeds will be disbursed by the Ministry before the end of this financial year.