•They fear a developer from Kiambu claims to own the land and plans to evict them.
•He filed a case in court in 2014, seekng to be declared sole owner.
Image: COURTESY
Isiolo county is a magnet for land speculation due to many Vision 2030 flagship projects by the national government, the African Development Bank and the World Bank.
As a result, some residents say, their land is being fraudulently taken from them by wealthy and influential people.
Landowners in the Kiwanjani area of Isiolo fear that a developer from Kiambu county plans to evict more than 700 households. He was not identified.
They live on 74 plots on 10 acres and some people have lived there for 40 years.
Some of them claim ownership and blame the county for not issuing titles to them.
The developer claiming to own the land filed a case in court in 2014. He cited 10 respondents from the edges of the disputed land to represent the 74 other residents.
Idris Golicha, one of the residents, said the other 64 owners felt that they could be shortchanged by the ruling and applied to be enjoined as interested parties in 2018.
The residents are blaming the county's Lands department for failing to issue ownership documents to plot owners, despite their saying that the matter has been resolved for seven years.
Asli Muhammad, an elderly woman who claims to have lived in the area since she was a young girl, said that most of the occupants are poor.
That makes them easy targets since they lack the resources to challenge wealthy and influential developers in court.
“All my five children were born on this now disputed land and all have families of their own," she said.
She asked why the person claiming to own the land waited for more than for years to realize he supposedly had a huge chunk of prime land close to Isiolo town.
Isiolo Women Representative Rehema Jaldesa visited the families on Monday and said corruption in the count Lands department was intolerable.
“Poor people now being deprived of their land by wealthy people working with powerful cartels at the lands offices. It is the responsibility of the county government to protect its people from exploitation, by issuing genuine landowners with allotment letters, " she said.
Jaldesa said the national government only gives title deeds after the county government completes the initial processes.
She promised to table a petition in Parliament on behalf of the 74 residents so that the matter will be investigated by lawmakers and appropriate action taken.
Isiolo county is a magnet for massive land speculation due to the numerous Vision 2030 flagship projects being rolled out by the national government, the African Development Bank and the World Bank.
Residents claim that some people fraudulently obtain ownership documents and don't even know where the property is located.
(Edited by V. Graham)