Help recover grabbed land in Kisii, Arati asks judiciary

Kisii Governor Simba Arati has appealed to the judiciary and the National Lands Commission to help the county recover grabbed public land.

The governor decried what he termed as a massive grabbing of public land in Kisii County and vowed to recover the land.

The National Lands Commission termed Kisii a land-grabbing epicenter.

Arati spoke at the Kisii law courts on Thursday afternoon after celebrations to mark 10 years since the establishment of the lands and environment court.

He was accompanied by presiding judge Sila Munyao and other court officials.

The county chief said Kisii town has many land issues.

“People have grabbed roads, schools, cemetery and dumping sites. We had land, which we inherited from county councils, that has also been encroached on,” he said.

Arati asked those who have grabbed public land to surrender.

He said the county government plans to open 10kms of roads but some have been occupied by private investors.  

“The roads are now occupied. We shall reclaim the roads as we seek to have Kisii town become a city in the near future,” Arati said.

The governor further revealed that several National Housing Corporation houses have also been grabbed.

He however hailed Nyaribari Chache MP Zaheer Jhanda for surrendering two acres of land, which he had been allocated by the NLC.

Arati further asked Kisii residents not to kill each other over land disputes but to move to court for arbitration.

He said Kisii’s should be litigious when it comes to land issues.

“People kill each other in Kisii because of land but we should not take that route. If there is a dispute over land, seek legal redress, and don’t take the law into your hands,” Arati said.

Kisii Lands registrar Steve Mokaya however said cases of land disputes leading to killings have gone down over the last five years due to vigilance from his office.

Earlier, Arati had announced that the dumping site, which has become an eyesore will be decommissioned and a recreation centre established.

He said he is working with state agencies including the National Environment Management Authority to decommission the dumping site.

Former Kisii mayor Sam Nyangeso advised Arati to hand over the dumping site to the Kenya Agriculture Research Centre, where 10 acres had been identified for a dumping site.