Residents of Laikipia North in Laikipia county have appealed to Lands CS Alice Wahome and local leaders to rein in land officials allegedly colluding with brokers to sell their parcels.
The locals, who are landowners at the EX-P&D Settlement Scheme in Sosian, claim that their parcels are allegedly being sold out without their knowledge.
“Brokers and corrupt officials are taking away our land and selling it to people from far away,” Lemaripe Kilea, a victim, told the Star.
Kilea is among the landowners who have allegedly lost their parcels to the ring of cartel. Kilea claimed he has lost three parcels now.
The residents, mostly squatters from Laikipia and Samburu, were allocated the parcels by the government in 2002 upon payment of a fee.
“The government, through the Settlement Fund Trustees has offered you plot of approximately 50 acres at EX-P&D Settlement Scheme in Laikipia,” a letter to the beneficiaries by the then Director of Land Adjudication and Settlement A Shariff states.
The letter adds, “In pursuant thereto, please note that you are required to report to the District Land Adjudication Officer, Laikipia District, so that you are shown the plot boundaries and issued with a letter confirming this before documentation.”
Each beneficiary had a grace period of 90 days to pay at least 10 per cent of the deposit or Sh150,000 to secure the plot.
The letter was copied to the then PS in charge of Lands and Settlement and Laikipia District Commissioner.
The state had resettled the residents there after it repossessed the parcel from the white settlers who owed the state millions in land rates.
On Thursday, Lands PS Nixon Korir said he is yet to receive any case of land fraud in the area involving ministry officials and the brokers.
“I have not heard about it but I will check immediately I get to the office. Once I get specific cases, I will act,” Korir told the Star on the phone.
But Laikipia North MP Sarah Korere confirmed that cartels have invaded the place and are illegally selling land belonging to the residents.
“Yes, it is true,” the MP asserted.
She said she has taken up the issue with the ministry to protect residents from loss.
According to Kilea, the cartel is taking advantage of the residents, most of them reportedly illiterate, to sell their land.
“Most of us are old people. We are in our 70s and 80s and it’s not possible for us to follow these issues in the Lands offices every day,” he said.
Kilea said those who have attempted to follow up the matter with the Lands officials in Nanyuki and Rimuruti offices after they found their parcels fenced were being taken round in circles.
“If you go to the land officers, you are told to go Nairobi and ask there,” a resident told the Star.
Residents claim that more than 20 plots measuring about 1,000 acres have been illegally sold out by the cartels.
"It's wrong to take advantage of old and poor people and defraud them of their land," Kilea protested.
The revelations come that time a Senate committee has opened inquiry into alleged massive cases of corrupt land dealings at the ministry.
Cases of missing files, multiple registration of land and illegal building approvals have been at the centre of the illegal dealings that have seen many Kenyans lose their property.