A group of Kwale Kaya elders want the custody of Kaya land title deeds transferred to the county commissioner's office.
The new development came as land grabbing of Kaya prime and fertile plots by private developers intensified.
The Kaya elders said the move will help to reduce land grabbing because the national government is more interested in protecting Kaya lands than the county.
Kaya Diani chairman Idi Hassan Siwa said many Kayas have been grabbed, yet the county is doing little to reclaim them.
"A lot of devastation and injustices have been done to Kayas but the county government is silent on the issue," he said.
Siwa said many times the Kayas have issues and the national government, through the Kenya Forest Service, are the first responders.
He said the law should be revised to place Kayas management under the jurisdiction of the county commissioner's office.
"We are aware that the law places the community lands under the custody of counties, but we want it amended so the county commissioner becomes the custodian of Kaya lands since his office is active," Siwa said.
He alleged counties cannot effectively fight land grabbing because of political influence.
Siwa said this is the reason the custody of Kaya forest lands should be taken away from them and returned to the national government.
"If you cannot intervene and protect the Kayas, why continue to be the custodian of those lands?" he posed.
Kaya Diani secretary Salim Mwalimu said the county's lack of development of the Kayas is to be blamed for rampant land grabbing.
He said most Kayas are unfenced and abandoned, making them easily accessible by anyone with an ill-motive.
Giving an example of Kaya Diani, Mwalimu said 90 per cent of it has been grabbed by people from within and outside the county.
He said only seven acres remain of Kaya Diani's 40 acres.
Mwalimu said if the Kayas were well-fenced and protected, no one would grabbed the land.
He said the county should also fulfil its promise of developing the Kayas.
Mwalimu said the county government had pledged to allocate Sh11 million to build a cultural centre at Kaya Diani for ecotourism, but the promise has not yet been implemented.
County director of communications Nicky Gitonga denied claims, adding that most Kayas were grabbed before the formation of devolution governments.
He said the county has been at the frontline in fighting land injustices and reclamation of grabbed public lands and Kayas.
Gitonga said many grabbed community lands were returned by the county during former Governor Salim Mvurya's and Governor Fatuma Achani's regime.
He said through the partnership with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, more grabbed lands are yet to be reclaimed and title deeds issued to communities.
"Kisite Mpunguti, Chale island, Lunga Lunga ranch and recently Mwavumbo ranch were repossessed by the EACC and some of them await to be subdivided to the community," Gitonga said.
He said the management of the Kayas are still fully under the national government, through the National Museums of Kenya.
Gitonga, however, said the county is working closely with the elders to create awareness of the protection of Kayas and managing them.
He said the proposed budget to develop Kaya Diani was rejected by the county assembly because the management of Kayas was under the national government.
Governor Achani said her administration will not rest until justice is served and all public lands are returned to the community and county government for development.
She said the county will offer enough support to fight the increasing land grabbing.
