Juja MP Francis Waititu wants the Lands ministry to issue title deeds for public land and schools in the constituency.
He said on Saturday that fraudsters have been selling the parcels to unsuspecting investors and the constituency will lose more land if the situation continues unchecked.
The lawmaker warned that they will not sit back and watch public property stolen to the detriment of residents. Residents have complained.
Waititu said unscrupulous individuals have grabbed acres allocated for markets, playing fields, public schools and health facilities with “an insatiable appetite” for public property.
“It’s very unfortunate that even the land that accommodates the police station was registered under an individual’s name. The rate at which public land is being acquired illegally is now worrying. It might reach a point where we won’t have space to put up schools, hospitals or administrative offices,” he told Juja town traders.
The legislator launched plans to settle the traders on 20 acres that had been grabbed. It is a prime plot located along the Thika Superhighway. Resident Lucia Nyambura, 80, had staked claim to the land. Waititu said she was not the first to claim ownership.
In the late 1990s, a former councillor and a chief invaded the land and subdivided it between themselves but were flushed out by residents and community leaders, he said.
The only way to keep fraudsters at bay is issuing title deeds for public spaces and institutions, he said.
“Anybody who has invaded any public space and fraudulently acquired ownership documents should be warned that they will be flushed out. We won’t allow unscrupulous individuals to take over the few public amenities left in Juja,” Waititu said.
He said they will use CDF cash to build a secondary school and a police post on the land to cater for the growing population.
The National Assembly Lands committee member urged the National Land Commission to repossess public spaces that have been unlawfully acquired.
“The ownership documents in possession of individuals for public land in Juja constituency should be revoked,” he said.