Kiambu land buying firms to be vetted

Land-buying companies in Kiambu will be profiled to weed out rogue firms that have been defrauding residents, Lands Cabinet Secretary Farida Karoney has said. 

The CS said on Wednesday that vetting will expedite the issuing of title deeds to members of the companies. She said the state will partner with Kiambu county in the screening.

Karoney aid all land buying companies in the region must show the physical location of the land, the mother title of the land and a list of its members.

Kiambu has more than  500 land buying companies, Lands executive James Maina said.

They commented while opening the Ruiru Lands Registry. Karoneysaid some land buying companies have become a thorn in the flesh. They have underhand dealings and are notorious for double allocation of plots and delaying title deeds. 

This has resulted in prolonged land disputes in courts, Karoney said.

“It has turned out that land buying companies are the major causes of disputes in Kiambu. We will soon sit with them together with the Interior ministry so we can profile them," she said.

The CS said after getting the firms' profiles, the ministry will give members title deeds to end their anxiety. She said many members have been waiting for title deeds for decades. 

“There’s no way one could have been subdividing and selling his land since 1970. I wonder which company has such huge land to be selling for decades. We will ensure all members of land-buying companies get title deeds as soon as we complete profiling them,” Karoney said.

She said most residents in Ruiru do not have title deeds and only possess share certificates

Cases of double and triple allocations are rampant but screening companies will end land grabbing and ward off fraudsters, the CS said.

Kiambu's giant land buying company Githunguri Ranching Company is embroiled in leadership wrangles. Two factions led by John Maina and Ahmed Chege have opened separate offices.

Maina is recognised by the Registrar of Societies as the legitimate chairman of the company, according to documents seen by the Star.

“The wrangles are the reason why members of the company and other residents have not received title deeds for their land since Independence. We will ensure everyone gets their title deeds now that we have opened our office," Karoney said.

The companies have encroached on public utilities including hospitals, schools, open spaces and even police stations. "We must end this insanity,” The CS said.

Ruiru MP Simon Ng’ang’a King’ara said that the decision to put up a land registry resulted from the large number of land disputes. It will also save residents the trouble of travelling to the land registry in Thika, he said.

"Lives have been lost and families have been broken due to land disputes in Kiambu. Many residents, I included, have no title deeds for our land we only have share certificates," King’ara said.

CS Karoney said the ministry has prioritised digitisation of land records to eliminate land frauds.

“We will ensure all our officers wear identification badges bearing their name, photo and number for easy identification by the public. We want to weed out all brokers from our land registries,” Karoney said.