By Rhoda Mutuku (Mombasa)
A year after the county government of Mombasa promised to finance title deeds for Waitiki squatters, the National Land Commission (NLC) is saying the reality has fallen far short.
The unfulfilled pledge follows a unanimous motion passed in April 2016 by members of Mombasa county assembly approving payment of Sh. 1.25 billion on behalf of squatters.
“I have not seen any payment, neither have I been notified of any payment from the county government of Mombasa” NLC chair Dr. Mohamed Swazuri said “All I know is that the government did the evaluation and arrived at Sh. 182,000 as the figure to be paid by the beneficiaries of the titles,”
Dr. Swazuri has revealed that Governor Hassan Ali Joho’s administration has so far not remitted a single coin to pay for the titles despite its assurance that it would foot all the costs for the waitiki land titles.
In an interview with The Plu, Dr Swazuri hinted that his office has since then been receiving endless calls from concerned residents seeking to understand the progress of the arrangement by the County regarding the promise to pay for their titles.
The chair further charged that majority of residents at the 943-acre land in Likoni have so far cleared the quoted amount and collected their titles, with only a few remaining.
“Out of the first batch of I think 5,900, majority of them have paid and received their titles…from the records we have a few hundreds who are yet to clear the amount…the residents are showing great appetite to pay for their titles and I really have not heard of a case where a beneficiary has been paid for by County government… as late as last week people were calling saying, well we have waited, we were promised payment but nothing has happened so we are going to pay,” said the NLC boss.
But while the hovernment’s move to charge the Waitiki squatters Sh 182,000 for the title deeds had encountered a barrage of criticism from Coast political leadership who view the figure as exorbitant, Dr. Swazuri implies the charges could be far much higher if the land’s current value was factored.
According to Swazuri, a land evaluation conducted by the land valuer through the NLC valued Waitiki land parcels at Sh 4 million, adding the Sh 182,000 figure is therefore “close to free cost.”
“First everybody should understand that the land in question, Waitiki, is within the Municipal boundaries of Mombasa, the second largest city in Kenya. So the value is high just by its proximity. Town land is not like land in Kinango or Marikani. Secondly it is close to the largest port in East and Central Africa. You don’t expect land to be cheap in such a Port area. Third it is within a beach area and you know all the waterfront lands in the world are expensive,” quipped the NLC chair.
The Waitiki land has been a political hot potato in the region for decades with the owner of the land in question, Evanson Kamau Waitiki embroiled in virtually endless battles with thousands of squatters who invaded his land.
Early last year the government bought the land from Waitiki to settle the squatters. Lands Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi disclosed Waitiki was paid Sh 1.2 billion to pave way for the exercise of settling the squatters.
