NLC begins land verification exercise in Mombasa County

Mombasa

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

KNA by Chari Suche

Mombasa County government in collaboration with the National Land Commission (NLC) has unveiled a one-week land verification exercise to identify illegally acquired land and curb fraud in land transactions.

The exercise which is taking place at Jomvu constituency also seeks to resolve the perennial squatter problem by identifying real land owners to pave the way for issuance of title deeds to deserving individuals.

Mombasa County Executive Committee Member for Lands Mohamed Hussein said longstanding problems, including illegal allocation of land that have bedeviled land matters in Mombasa, will be solved amicably.

He said the plan is aimed at cleaning the land register and ensuring that the people with title deeds are the real landowners.

“We also want to address the challenges of squatters in Mombasa that have been rampant for a very long time,” he said.

Speaking at the Mikindani Social Hall in Jomvu during the supervision of the exercise Hussein said Governor Abdulswamad Nassir pledged to implement the plan to end landlessness in Mombasa.

“This plan is in line with the governor’s manifesto and the pledges he made to the people of Jomvu during the campaigns, one of them is to end the historical land injustice and that plan has began in earnest,” added Hussein.

In Mikindani, at least 1,041 people are targeted while 467 are in the Miritini area, and according to the CEC, the exercise targets the entire county until all residents own land titles.

Grace Wanjiru a Mikindani resident expressed her joy that she will be able to get a title deed of the land belonging to her parents who passed on, she is now living as a squatter.

“I have verified that the land of my parents belongs to them. This has spared me the stress of worrying that some intruders might come and steal this parcel of land that I inherited from my parents,” she said.

She said her parents had five plots with the one she verified measuring 0.035 acres and it has stayed with no formal document for the past 20 years.

With the verification of the plots, Wanjiru is optimistic that she can start an investment on the land once issued with a title deed.

Among those who turned up for the exercise is Amani Kibarae, a resident who says his plot of 200 by 100 has remained without a title since 1984. He noted that after successfully completing the verification of his documents, he is ready to invest in the land.

Jane Wamboi, a resident of Mikindani expressed her joy after her plot number was verified and earmarked for issuance of a title deed. She said she can now invest in the land that had remained without a title deed.

The county plans to start the issuance of title deeds in three weeks’ time after completing the verification of lands that do not have title deeds.

The exercise targets land with allotment numbers but yet to be issued with title deeds. 

Courtesy ; K. N. A