Shika Adabu residents decry increased land irregularities, fear eviction

Shika Adabu residents in Likoni, Mombasa county have decried irregular acquisition of land by tycoons colluding with officers in the land registry.

The residents said foreigners are increasingly showing up at their doors with title deeds and threatening to evict them.

“The other day a Ugandan lady in the company of her white partner showed up at our house claiming they bought the land and needed us to move out,” Said Shume, a resident, said during a land forum.

The forum was attended by UDA Nominated Senator Miraj Abdillahi.

Shume’s family is one of more than 1,000 Shika Adabu Settlement Scheme Block 125 residents at risk of losing their lands.

They have been knocking on different doors since 2015 seeking help over land issues.

“We can't sleep at night. We are always lying on our beds with one eye open over fear that bulldozers might demolish our houses at night,” Shume said.

The tycoons are buying the lands cheaply from corrupt officials.

“We have been running up and down to save our land. You have to help us because if we don’t get help now, our children will be evicted,” he said.

The residents showed Abdillahi the valid land ownership documents.

Amina Changu, a resident, said she bought a piece of land from another resident but she is now being threatened with eviction.

“I told them I only bought the land from a known individual. Why can’t they go to him to enquire how he got the land? Instead, they are insisting that I demolish my house. Where will I go?” she asked.

Abdillahi said although land issues have troubled the Coast for a long time, the problem has been exacerbated by devolution.

She said before devolution, communities protected the lands and there were no many grabbing cases.

"After 2013, when devolution started, land issues increased tenfold, especially in Mombasa," the senator said.

“And those who grabbed our lands were not from far away. They are our own brothers who were helped by the local authorities.

Kenya Land Alliance commissioner Najib Shamsan said the problem started with poor communication between the residents and the Ministry of Lands.

He said a social audit of the scheme revealed that most residents were not allocated the lands they live in.

“The scheme is a cross border one and has two blocks, Block 126 which is in Kwale county and Block 125 which is in Mombasa county. The Kwale county block in Ngombeni has no issues. Issues are with the Mombasa block which is in Pungu, Shika Adabu,” Shamsan said.

She said some occupants of the plots on the Mombasa block have their names in the Kwale block, but their physical structures are in Mombasa.

“We have advised them to swap. The problem comes where the other person you intend to swap with has not built any structure,” she said.

Shamsan said the issues are common in other settlement schemes at the Coast.

He said the problem is that the survey and recording officers on the ground make wanting decisions.

“Those two blocks have a population of about 21,000 and the development plan was done in 2015 but the demarcation started in 2017," Shamsan said.

“The ministry issued titles to non-residents, which is abuse of office. People were given land through proxies and politicians were involved,” he said.

Abdillahi said the Shika Adabu land case has been petitioned in the Senate.

She urged the government to look into the altering of documents to favour tycoons.

“The last time when NLC was here, the residents' prayers pained me. People were asking to buy back their own lands that had been grabbed. Is it right for you to buy a piece of land that belongs to your grandfather?” the Senator asked.

She said NLC and the Senate Land Committee will visit the area soon to assess the situation and come up with a lasting solution.

Abdillahi, however, warned locals against haphazard selling of lands.

“I was in tears in the Senate when I presented my petition. Do not embarrass me please,” she said.

Some residents sell off their lands only to run to leaders later, claiming they are squatters on their own lands.

“It is not right that while other communities ask for big projects that will boost their economic situations, we, 60 years after independence, are still crying for the right to own our own lands,” Abdillahi said.

She said if the land issues are not solved by President William Ruto’s administration, then a golden opportunity will be wasted.

The senator said Ruto, in his latest tour of Mombasa after the Gen Z protests, asked coastal leaders to meet the Senate Speaker and identify lands the government can buy to resettle squatters.

“If someone comes with a title deed and you know a parcel belongs to someone else, you should write a letter to the deputy county commissioner, explaining why you cannot allow the new title holder to come in,” Abdillahi said.