Thika Town MP Patrick Wainaina has raised the alarm about a scheme to grab 22 acres belonging to Mbagathi Secondary School.
He said on Tuesday some unscrupulous individuals are plotting to grab the land and had started mapping it but were flushed out by residents.
He spoke after commissioning three classrooms built at the Thika East school. The NG-CDF office provided Sh3 million for the project.
Wainaina said the landgrabbers have "an insatiable appetite for public parcels" and are leaving nothing to chance to satisfy their greed.
"We won’t allow them to take the only public space in this area where the school is constructed and where we can put up other public facilities, including a hospital, social hall and a market," he said.
"We won’t let them have a field day. They will be dealt with ruthlessly according to the law."
He said the grabbers had started installing beacons on the land before residents got wind of their plot. The MP said landgrabbing in the constituency has been on the rise and schools and public spaces are major targets.
Last year, some grabbers targeted Heshima Kiboko Primary School in Thika town but were thwarted by the community and schoolchildren.
The MP said he has presented details of all schools within Thika East and West to the National Land Commission and the Ministry of Lands so they can get title deeds.
He noted that the lack of titles has exposed many public institutions to land-grabbing.
"Issuing the vital land ownership documents to our schools is the only way to ward off the intruders. We cannot let the grabbers take the only land our schools can use for expansion," Wainaina said.
He urged the Ministry of Lands to rein in unscrupulous officials who have been colluding with the grabbers to forge ownership documents.
"Those who are abusing office by assisting the notorious land fraudsters should be sacked and charged in a court of law," he said.
Ruiru MP has tabled a Bill in Parliament seeking to compel the government to issue all public schools with title deeds.
"The Bill is a public good and I believe we are in the parliament to represent and safeguard the public interest. Therefore I look forward to full support of the bill by my colleagues," King’ara said.
Recently, Lands CAS Gideon Mung’aro said the state has noted concern from the rising cases of theft of public land in Kiambu county, citing Thika, Ruiru and Juja subcounties.
He warned the cartels that the clock is ticking and their days are numbered. "It’s just a matter of time before we catch up with them," Mung’aro said.
He announced the transfer of more than 600 officers in land registries in the wake of a probe into their role in the theft of public land. The CAS said that legal action will be taken against those found culpable of being involved in illegal land deals.
"We call upon members of the public to avail information to us that will help us identify the unscrupulous officials who have been working in cahoots with landgrabbers to defraud members of the public their land," the CAS said.
(Edited by F'Orieny)
