A section of Maji Ya Chumvi residents in Kinango, Kwale county, has opposed government plans to issue title deeds until disputes are addressed.
The government last week announced it is ready to issue 430 out of the 500 titles delayed due to a review of the survey and adjudication process.
The residents on Wednesday held demonstrations calling for fresh subdivision and allocation for the over 60,000 hectares.
“We have no faith in the process that was done here. We want Lands CS Farida Karoney to intervene,” one of the demonstrators said.
Led by Rev Fredrick Kanato of the East Africa Pentecostal Church Samburu Parish and former chairman of the defunct Town Council of Mariakani Ali Ramadan Mwatsahu, the residents demanded cancellation of the entire exercise.
“The size of the land indicated in the title deeds does not match with the parcels physically allocated,” said Kanato.
Mwatsahu said the exercise should be stopped until all avenues are exhausted with the involvement of all stakeholders.
Speaking during the protest held at Mwagoloto village in Kinango constituency, the residents accused private developers of being behind the push for the issuance of the title deeds for selfish gain.
Kanato said the perennial land issues at the Coast need a lasting solution.
He dismissed claims that all stakeholders were involved in an open and fair exercise.
Instead, he noted that only a few selected people were involved so as to make it look like there was public participation.
"The move by the government will only enrich tycoons outside the county at the expense of the local community," the cleric said.
He accused a certain politician in the area of using their influence to steal from the residents in collusion with tycoons from within and outside the county.
Kanato accused the former MP of using Muslim clerics to accuse a certain community to cover up the wrong deeds he committed during his tenure.
The Maji ya Chumvi land saga has seen Kinango MP Benjamin Tayari petition CS Karoney through Parliament to cancel an earlier adjudication process, saying it was shrouded in secrecy.
He said the adjudication in 2014 was flawed as indigenous residents were left out.
However, this prompted sharp criticism from Kenya Muslims National Advisory Council whose chairman Sheikh Juma Ngao said the MP is protecting a private developer.
But Tayari dismissed Sheikh Ngao as a broker who wants to reap where he did not sow.
He said he is only looking after the interests of the people of Kinango.
Mwatsahu said the adjudication committee formed in 2014 had allocated land to outsiders.
They also allocated themselves parcels of land, he noted.
Last week, Coast regional commissioner John Elungata warned those who had sold their parcels to other people in the Coast region to stop harassing them.
He urged the sellers to stick to the law and respect the new land owners in the region instead of harassing them.
He said only 70 title deeds out of the 500 had some issues and the rest were okay and they will be issued.
“The government will protect genuine land buyers,” he said.
County lands executive Samu Beja Mahaja has said the county will not backtrack on its quest to subdivide the land and have the residents issued with the titles.
