Agency to take back grabbed plots

The National Land Commission is set to repossess all grabbed public plots.

The land was irregularly acquired in different parts of the country during the Kanu era.

According a notice in Monday’s Daily Nation, parcels of land to be repossessed include those that were hived off Karura Forest in Kiambu County and Kisite Mpunguti Marine National Park in Kwale County.

Those who acquired land illegally have built housing estates, shopping malls, apartments, educational institutions and other facilities.

In the case of Kisite Mpunguti Marine National Park, a Swiss national who acquired islands in the park, is seeking to sell them at Sh1.5 billion.

National Land Commission vice-chairperson Abigail Mukolwe says Kisite-Mpunguti islands were erroneously included in the Shimoni Scheme by some officials in the Lands Ministry and plans to sell them were stopped by the commission.

However, Mr Alessandro Torriani has indicated that he is in possession of a 99-year leasehold title deed for part of Kisite-Mpunguti Marine Park.

Others parcels to be reverted to the public include part of Kakamega Primary School, which was sold to Yako Supermarket and Mr Dickson Mutoka, Changamwe Primary School in Mombasa which was sold to Turf Developers Ltd, Uasin Gishu Secondary School in Eldoret and Kenya Medical Training College land in Nairobi sold to Mr Robert Mutiso.

Parcels of land belonging to the Ministry of Information and Communication in Nakuru, Ministry of Fisheries in Kisumu, Mombasa Primary School and land belonging to jua kali artisans in Rabau Road in Nairobi have also been earmarked for repossession.

The land commission notice says: “Under Section 14 of the National Land Commission Act, the Commission shall on its own motion or upon a complaint by the national or a county government, a community or an individual, review all grants and dispositions (titles) to public land to establish their propriety or legality.”

Ms Mukolwe said yesterday that other plots include road reserves and land set aside for public amenities like schools, hospitals, research centres, State corporations, recreation grounds and public toilets.

The notice adds that since its inception, the commission has received numerous complaints regarding legality of various title deeds and it had consequently started to review controversial land allocations.

Ms Mukolwe told the Nation Sunday that others parcels of land include road reserves and land set aside for public amenities like schools, hospitals, research centres, State corporations land, recreation grounds and public toilets.

The 2011/2012 State corporations audit report by the Auditor General released last month revealed that the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) invested more than Sh1.1 billion of workers’ money in public forests, which are gazetted areas, and which cannot be owned or developed.

The Auditor-General said the NSSF invested in 18.41 hectares at a cost of Sh1.1 billion, knowing the land was part of the Karura Forest Reserve and Ngong Forest.

Ms Mukolwe said the commission will carry out a five-year audit on public land with a view to establishing legality of ownership.

“Both the Ndung’u Commission report and the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission report published last year will be used as reference points,” she said.

The Ndung’u Commission report said State corporations did not just lose land entrusted to them through illegal allocations; they were also put under pressure to buy illegally acquired public land.

“They became captive buyers of land from politically connected allotees,” the report says in part.

NSSF, Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Pipeline Company, Kenya Reinsurance and Kenya Airports Authority were some of the corporations affected, according to the report.

Mrs Mukolwe, however, said that those to be affected will be given a chance to submit any relevant documents on how they acquired the parcels of land under question.

Affected parties have up to April 17, to submit written representations and documents to the commission.

Recently, Mombasa tycoon Rashid Sajjad surrendered prime public property worth Sh1.6 billion, including recreational parks and a clinic, after years of court battles.

He handed back 18 title deeds for the plots acquired irregularly to Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday.

At the same time, Ms Mukolwe confirmed processing of title deeds has been put on hold since January after the scrapping of the position of Commissioner of Lands and a halt to processing of deed plans.

“It is true processing of deed transactions had been stopped and this had generally stalled land transactions and adversely affected service delivery,” she said.

Lawyers involved in land conveyance matters have revealed that their clients are facing problems due to confusion at the lands Ministry.

Lawyer Benson Nyenjeri from Robson Harris and Company Advocates said those adversely affected are property developers who seeking sub-leases for apartments constructed on title deeds which were initially single-dwelling that have been converted to multi-dwelling.

“Others are those who have converted their agricultural land into residential plots and those who want to change their residential plots into commercial plots,” he said.

People who have applied for new title deeds from different parts of the country cannot be issued with new ones because the transitional clause in the constitution vested powers to issue title deeds in the office of the Commissioner of Lands.

The Commissioner of Lands of, Mr Zablon Mabea, was transferred to the Ministry of Interior in January and replaced by the acting Director-General of Lands Peter Kahuho, after the position of Commissioner of Lands was scrapped.

However, confusion is stalking the Lands ministry over whether the Mr Kahuho should be gazetted to sign land titles.

Under transitional clauses in land laws, Mr Mabea, a presidential appointee, had been a signatory for titles endorsed by the National Lands Commission.

However, the new officer appointed by the Public Service Commission cannot sign land titles in what the ministry admits is a legal vacuum.

Two weeks ago, Law Society of Kenya chairman Eric Mutua, said land transactions are grinding to a halt because of the feuding between Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu and National Land Commission chairman Mohamed Swazuri.

Mr Mutua said issuing of title deeds, transfer of land ownership and renewal of land leases was being done as “discretionary guesswork.”

Ms Ngilu and Dr Swazuri’s wrangles over who has the power to register the land documents.

Differences between the two officials have also delayed the enactment of new land rules and regulations, the appointment of land registrars.

Reacting to the raging controversy Lands cabinet secretary, Ms Charity Ngilu, confirmed that there are no new registration documents that have been issued by Government.

“Sections 160, 161 of the Land Act and Sections 108 and 110 of the Land Registration Act require that any new forms can only come into place after regulations have been approved by Parliament,” she said in a statement.

Ms Ngilu said the Ministry was still in the process of finalizing its regulations and therefore it cannot issue new forms.

“The titles that were signed by the former Commissioner of Lands will have a new signatory once we complete the regulations,” she said.

She said all the other processes of land allocation are continuing as per law.