Coast leaders have reignited the emotive land debate with fresh demands for the implementation of the TJRC and the Ndung'u Land Commission reports.
This is among the issues the region wants to be incorporated into the Building Bridges Initiative report, the gist of it being the call to the state to buy land owned by absentee landlords.
A Lands Ministry 2009 report shows that absentee landlords hold about 77,000 hectares of land. Those in Kwale hold almost 76,000 hectares; Kilifi (1,235 ha), Mombasa (301 ha), and Malindi (234 ha).
The region’s leaders want the purchased parcels allocated to the landless and title deeds issued to residents to avert further losses.
Coast leaders further said no to the renewal of expired leases. They also want a national policy on historical land injustices.
Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi read the resolutions from a January 24 meeting at Wild Waters. The leaders urged the BBI task force to recommend the creation of an authority to manage the region’s land matters.
They want the Regional Land Authority to have quasi-judicial powers to enable it to review land grants and hear claims of adverse possession of land.
Yesterday, the governor restated the implementation of the two reports as the condition for which the region will support BBI.
“We will ensure that these resolutions are recorded in the final BBI report. It will define the conversation we will have on BBI going forward,” Kingi said.
TJRC recommended to the National Land Commission to work with the Ministry of Lands to undertake adjudication and registration of land at the Coast.
“Measures shall be designed to revoke illegally obtained titles to and re-open all public beaches, beach access routes and fish landing beaches, especially at the Coast,” the TJRC report reads.
Kingi’s call is likely to ignite a debate on issues captured in the two reports which have been gathering dust on the shelves since their filing.
In the reports, big names and corporations were featured to have orchestrated grabbing of urban, state corporations and ministries lands.
The blatant grabbing also affected settlement schemes and trust lands as well as forests, national parks, game reserves, wetlands, riparian sites, protected areas, and museums.
In focus would be lands that were compulsorily acquired for the construction of bypasses to ease traffic congestion in Nairobi.
The Ndung'u Commission revealed that the same lands were allocated to individuals and companies, yet they were not available.
It flagged cases at Kenya Railways, Kari, Kenya Power, Kenya Airports Authority, and Kenya Industrial Estates.
It also found out that some corporations would be mismanaged till they are put under receivership, following which such entity’s assets would be sold at throwaway prices.
The report cited the Kenya Food and Chemical Corporation whose land was sold to Spectre International Ltd – a company associated with ODM leader Raila Odinga’s family.
Another case that featured was that of the Numerical Machining Complex Ltd which was incorporated in 1994 to take over Nyayo Motor Corporation.
It was cited as a case where the government would create a company for development and allocate the same land which is later sold to other state bodies.
Ndung'u also sought investigations into lands lost by the Kenya Airports Authority, arguing that the loss could have been engineered from within.
The Ndung’u team also cited cases of state corporations that became captive buyers of land from politically connected allottees.
The report revealed that state corporations such as NSSF, Kenya Ports Authority, Kenya Pipeline Company, Kenya Re, among others were affected.
One such case was cited in the illegal excision of Ngong Forest, parcels which 13 companies later sold to Kenya Pipeline.
The matter recently resurfaced amid claims police were reviving the case with a view to charging William Ruto afresh.
DCI boss George Kinoti dismissed the Ruto probe angle but maintained the agency was looking at loss of KPC assets.
Central Bank was equally roped in on the illegal purchase of a plot reserved for public parking off Haile Selassie Avenue in Nairobi.
The land was bought at Sh300 million from a company associated with a former MP.
Grabbed ADC lands also featured in the Ndung'u report, bringing in notable people such as the late Njenga Karume, the late George Saitoti and Charles Mbindyo, among others.
Kenya Power was also found to be among companies with numerous cases of selling its prime properties at a throwaway price only for purchasers to make huge profits.
Kenya Railways Corporation was supposed to have surrendered land to the government yet the same land ended up in private hands who sold them to other state corporations.
Also in focus are lands which were allocated to private developers despite the same being set aside for public investments like schools, hospitals, and public parks.
Children playground – including State House’s, City Council staff homes, City Park recreational, Donholm Primary school, Kasarani Primary School, Kariobangi South market, dispensary, a DO’s office, Corn-Craft Parking Bay, a police station, Kabete Water Works were among the thousands of cases in Nairobi alone.
Several open spaces in the city were equally allocated by the unscrupulous land officials who were found to have usurped presidential powers to grant individuals state lands.
Numerous local authorities also allocated public utility land to serving councilors, chief officers, provincial administrators, politicians, and the politically correct companies.
Ndung’u team further found out that land surrendered to the government as a condition for the subdivision were later illegally allocated to individuals.
About 600 companies were flagged as having been used in transactions involving public land yet most of them were nonexistent.
State corporations whose lands were positioned as having been surrendered only for them to be purchased by companies that later subdivided them also featured.