Two Kikuyu town orphans suffer in NLC-survey agency ping-pong over land
David Ngugi Wakaba (left) and Samuel Ndungu Wakaba, two orphans in Kikuyu town, Kiambu County, who are crying out for help in processing ownership documents for land left to them by their grandmother.
Two orphans in Kikuyu town, Kiambu County, are crying out for help in processing ownership documents for land left to them by their grandmother.
Things have not been easy for David Ngugi Wakaba, 24, and Samuel Ndungu Wakaba, 22. In their quest to take possession of the land, they have been met only with frustrations.
This is partly because of confusion over who between the National Land Commission (NLC) and the Department of Surveys should give them the documents for the prime land at the heart of Kikuyu.
The two say their grandmother, Esther Ruguru Wakaba, lived with them on the 0.023-hectare land until she died.
The two state agencies continue tossing them around. They say the land-transfer process stalled in February this year, and ownership of the land remains in limbo.
Responding to a September 10, 2019 letter from Mr Muthomi Ngaruthi, a national land administrator who authenticated the ownership, the Kiambu County government, in an October 8, 2019 letter, acknowledged that the land belonged to the woman, who had occupied it since 1974.
Registry index map
The matter was later taken up by Mr Zacharia Ndege, a senior officer at the NLC, who the siblings say told them that they needed a registry index map from the surveys department for process to proceed.
On the other hand, the land surveys office wants the two to get an allotment letter first from the NLC before they can be issued with a registry index map.
Both the Kiambu County government and the siblings’ local chief, in their letters to the commission, indicated that the land belonged to Esther Ruguru Wakaba. The offices also requested the NLC to help the two.
Documents seen by the Nation indicate that Esther Ruguru Wakaba used to pay land rates to authorities.
But the process of transferring the land to the siblings now seems to have hit a snag. They fear that someone is out to frustrate them, and that they risk losing the land.
Allotment letter
Mr Nicholas Mwangi Macharia, a senior officer at the Department of Surveys, says that for a registry index map to be issued by his office, one must first have an allotment letter from the NLC.
But Mr Ndege of the NLC, who is also directly involved in the matter, shifted blame to the Kiambu County government although county officials, in their letter to the commission, had exonerated themselves by saying the land belonged to the late Esther Ruguru Wakaba.
The two men are now wondering who to turn to as they seem to have hit a brick wall in their quest to acquire land ownership documents.
