Jua Kali industry, the biggest job creator in Nairobi, is under threat because of land grabbers, Governor Evans Kidero heard yesterday.
The Kenya National Federation of Jua Kali Associates told Kidero that individuals, posing as officials of jua kali associations, are registering land belonging to the groups in their names. This leads to frequent evictions of the artisans from their places of work.
Chief executive Richard Muteti said the individuals have faked associations’ papers and are visiting the Lands ministry behind their back to acquire title deeds.
“Quacks are taking away our land. We have been wondering why there are frequent evictions even in areas where our people have worked in for more than 20 years,” Muteti said.
He said only 50 of the 245 jua kali clusters (associations) in the city have title deeds for the land where they operate from and the quacks are taking advantage of the situation to grab the land.
The CEO spoke during a breakfast meeting with the governor at City Hall. The event was attended by more than 200 officials of the associations.
Muteti said huge land rates, harassment by askaris, lack of access to credit and brokers who have infiltrated the industry are the other problems the sector faces.
He said the sector owes City Hall close to Sh1 billion in land rates arrears and urged Kidero to waiver it.
“Our groups are not registered and therefore we cannot do business with the county, there is also no structured way of engaging the county,” Muteti said.
Kidero said the county will waive the rates and engage the Lands ministry and the National Land Commission to revoke the title deeds issued fraudulently and have them registered in the associations' names.
“About 1.6 million or 70 per cent of people working in Nairobi are in this sector. Formal employment only takes 50,000 of the 1.2 million people from schools every year. The rest, about 70 per cent, are absorbed by the sector,” he said.
Muteti warned the land grabbers and urged officials to be good custodians and trustees of the land.
He said the county will soon establish training centres for the artisans, install flood lights where they operate from and issue "cluster-based" licences for all the associations in the city.