- The projects are Marereni and Marafa town planning, Garithe B and Kadzuhoni.
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Since the demolition of Kadzuhoni village in July 2019, the residents have not been able to resettle on the land.
Image: ALPHONCE GARI
A section of Magarini subcounty residents wants the Kilifi county to revive four stalled land adjudication projects in the area.
The residents claim the delayed completion of the land adjudication is posing a security threat in the area.
The projects are Marereni and Marafa town planning, Garithe B and Kadzuhoni.
Marafa town planning committee secretary Martin Tsuma said the county has not communicated anything to the committee since an administrator stopped the exercise early this year.
“The project started sometimes back but we came in May last year after the community expressed no confidence with the previous committee. We started the process in September last year and we have been able to survey all the 460 acres in the earmarked project," Tsuma said.
"The register is complete and 885 people are waiting for their plot numbers to verify but the county government is silent on the issue.”
Kalama Patrick, chairperson to the Marafa town planning committee, said already a land-related murder case has been reported in the area.
“The man bought land and a dispute arose during the adjudication process. The case was reported to the chief but before it was heard and resolved the complainant went missing and was discovered buried in a shallow grave with his body wrapped in a sack,” Kalama said.
According to Tsuma, people want to develop their land but they are unable to because they have not verified their allocated land.
“The land is within the town but we are discouraging people from developing it until the process is complete and beacons have been put in place. We are even discouraging people from fencing off their land. Some are even encroaching on road reserves,” he said.
Lilian Tsuma from Garithe B said residents are still waiting for the county government to adjudicate the 1,500 acres of land they have been contesting with a tycoon.
She said the land was reverted to Kilifi county after a lease to a salt company elapsed.
“The adjudication process started in 2019 where the survey started but it stalled in 2021. We have tried to push for the revival of the project but we have not been successful,” she said
During the mapping process, the land had 150 families living in it.
“The mapping was done because the tycoon had said there were no people living in the land but only monkeys,” she added
In Marereni town, the planning of the town was initiated in 2010 and stalled. It was later revived in 2020 but it has since stalled.
“According to their plan they wanted to give everyone equal size of land. This did not augur well with the residents because some had bigger pieces of land. That is why the process stopped,” John Mweni from Marereni said.
Since the demolition of Kadzuhoni village in July 2019, the residents have not been able to resettle on the land.
Wario Suleiman said the county had promised to compensate those whose houses were demolished and the investor who won the case against the community had promised to resettle them on a different piece of the land.
“The county government did the picking for all those living in the 339 acres. They were to pay us so that we can move to the other land but they have not done so. They asked as not to put up permanent houses and that is why we are living in makeshift houses,” Suleiman said.
Peter Komora, a rights activist at Malindi Rights Forum, said land is the key enabler to development and delayed adjudication means delayed development.
(edited by Amol Awuor)