The Ministry of Land is planning to recover all grabbed public lands.
Lands CS Alice Wahome on Monday urged those in possession of title deeds for public land to hand them over to the ministry.
“We will not tolerate or be patient with anybody who has grabbed public utility land. Obviously, we are in an exercise to recover all grabbed public land,” she said.
She spoke in Nairobi West, where she committed to resolve in the next three weeks land disputes that have been going on for 12 years.
Wahome said she will sort out double allocation of land title numbers between Almubarak and civil servants’ estates in Nairobi West.
The CS was accompanied by Lands PS Nixon Korir and Lang'ata MP Felix Odiwour.
Wahome urged the affected parties to cooperate and surrender their old title deeds so the ministry can process and issue new ones within three weeks. New title deeds cannot be processed without the old ones being surrendered first.
“When I asked my officers why we have taken so long, one of the challenges or reasons was that people take their time or they take long, and other members do not want to surrender their titles because they are not confident," she said.
"I suppose their titles will be rectified. Let us agree on how we deal with this once and for all at a better pace than we have been working.”
The CS urged residents to surrender their title deeds, saying, "whether you stay with it or not, it is of no use, so you better take the risk and give it to me".
“My officers will sign each document that they receive. We have closed the office, by the way; this is not a usual exercise that we do every day. I have taken the matter very seriously,” she said.
Wahome said in all transactions where title deeds are being altered legally, the original must be surrendered to be cancelled and held back.
The CS has asked the members to take her word-as the custodian of land documents-that their titles will be safe.
This came even as a task force report shows that land belonging to police stations is at risk of being grabbed by powerful individuals, as most of them have no title deeds.
The report by the team led by former Chief Justice David Maraga indicates that 73 per cent of National Police Service lands hosting stations and training institutions have no documents. It says some people have started exploiting the loophole to grab the parcels.
“The task force was informed that most pieces of land belonging to NPS have not been issued with titles. It is approximated that NPS has 2,353 parcels of land of which 1,726, amounting to 73 per cent of the NPS land, have not been issued with title deeds,” the report says.
Only 159 (7 per cent) have title deeds. Another 468 (20 per cent) have allotment letters.
“There are many cases in court claiming ownership over NPS land and many are cases of land grabbing," the report says.
"The lack of title deeds was said to hamper development projects within the stations as the building approvals by county governments and other relevant bodies require the crucial document.”
Various actors and stakeholders told the task force there is need to expedite the processing of all NPS land title deeds and the creation of a central land documentation registry.
Out of 116 parcels of police land in Coast, only nine have title deeds and 26 have allotment letters. Another 82 are undocumented.
Rift Valley has 701 parcels, 30 have title deeds, 111 have allotment letters and 563 are undocumented.
Eastern has 484 parcels and only 12 have title deeds, 110 have allotments letters and 362 are undocumented.
Northeastern has 47 parcels, with five having allotment letters and the rest are undocumented.
Central has 318 out of which 15 have title deeds, 60 have allotment letters and 246 are undocumented.
Nairobi has 106 and only five have title deeds. Thirty-nine have allotment letters and 62 are undocumented.
Western has 146 parcels, with only 30 with titles. Thirty-one have allotment letters and 103 are undocumented.
The ministry has been in the process of digitising land records as part of improving services and doing away with challenges that it has been facing.
On April 27, 2021, former President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the National Land Information Management System, known as Ardhi Sasa.
The system is a digital land resource management platform designed to enhance the security of land records, speed up transactions and curb fraud.
Through the system, users can lodge and track the progress of their transactions without having to visit ministry offices.
The platform aims to address historical injustices and curb fraud, corruption and manipulation of land records.