• MP was accused of inciting locals against non-locals.
• He explained to security that he meant those who obtain title deeds fraudulently.
Image: ELIAS YAA
Kilifi North MP Owen Baya was grilled for three hours on Monday over an alleged incitement remark he made during Madaraka Day celebrations in Karisa Maitha Grounds.
The remark earned him a date with security officers after saying on Saturday that non-natives who obtain land ownership documents fraudulently will not be allowed in the subcounty.
“We will not allow someone who is not a native of this county to evict people from their ancestral land. The land in Kilifi belongs to the Mijikenda and, of course, the people who are locals, including the Swahilis. If you go to Nairobi to process a title deed for land whose location you do not know, you will remain with your title. We are tired of these evictions from our land,” Baya said.
On Sunday, he got a summons from deputy county commissioner Josephat Mutisya after claims that he was inciting the natives.
The team that quizzed the lawmaker comprised subcounty police commander Njoroge Ngigi and officers from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the National Intelligence Service and the prisons.
Baya said he was tired of rampant evictions meted out to residents.
“My statement was based on the rampant and reckless evictions perpetrated on our people. The security team feared the statement could send jitters to non-locals who genuinely own land in Kilifi but I explained to them that I was referring to those who fraudulently obtain land in Kilifi. We can't accept that. We've agreed to work with the security team to tame land fraudsters,” he said.
Mutisya confirmed Baya’s statement and said their aim was not to detain him but to understand what he meant.
“The MP comes from the legislative arm of government. As officers mandated to enforce laws and maintain order, we were a bit worried that the statement would make people a bit jittery and incite the locals against nonlocals," he said.
"We will make sure court orders are authentic by carrying out investigations from the same court they were issued before executing them."
Baya maintained that most people who come with title deeds to claim land in Kilifi do not even know where the parcels are.
“How do you claim a piece of land you don't know? These people take advantage of the unregistered land and go to Nairobi to process the document then they come here to evict our people with the help of the police. If someone obtained the land genuinely, then we have no problem with that,” he said.
On Madaraka Day, Governor Amason Kingi, Senator Stewart Madzayo and Baya condemned illegal evictions. The police have been blamed for deaths by the bullet. During a recent eviction, they fired live bullets into a dissenting crowd.
Baya also accused the police of harassing residents in the name of looking for Mombasa Republican Council members.
Those who have found themselves at the hands of the police are elderly people who put on the Mijikenda traditional attire.
(Edited by R.Wamochie)