However, the idea elicited dissenting voices from some leaders.
Kuria will call for a meeting with the EAPCC board members next week to streamline the process of taking over the alleged grabbed land.
Image: Kurgat Marindany
Kenya Kwanza government will face an uphill task in securing the East African Portland Cement land that has already been taken over by squatters.
On Tuesday Trade CS made clear the government’s plan to put up a cargo airport for the country’s exportation of farm products on EAPCC’s land.
However, the idea elicited dissenting voices from some leaders.
The land in question in the past has been a battleground between various powerful land cartels that left several people injured and maimed.
Kuria will call for a meeting with the EAPCC board members next week to streamline the process of taking over the alleged grabbed land.
A former director at EAPCC, Titus Naikuni, told the Star on Thursday that plans by the government to take over the grabbed land may not succeed because of the many land cartels who will use their billions to derail it.
“We tried when I was a director and we realised we were dealing with warlords, who had no regard for lives. We made many attempts to restore order on the company’s land, but we failed terribly,” Naikuni said.
Before Kuria announced the government’s plan to put up the cargo airport in Athi River, there was already a plan by the company to dispose of part of its expansive land to willing buyers.
The company had started a process of selling land parcels to squatters who have been living on its Athi River property.
The EAPCC had made an offer to the squatters to pay Sh100,000 for a beacon certificate and another Sh500,000 within a year to purchase a plot of land measuring 40 feet by 80 feet.
The firm commenced the land sale and regularisation process of three parcels measuring 709 acres.
The EAPCC convened its first public participation exercise two months ago to spell out the sale process and land price, which it stated is subject to review upon further negotiations.
The cement manufacturer could raise hundreds of millions of shillings from the proposed transactions, assuming the squatters take up most of the plots and pay the required amounts in full.
The High Court on December 2, 2021, stopped the state from acquiring 4,272 acres estimated at Sh6.4 billion, from EAPCC for free after it failed to consult the firm’s shareholder, National Social Security Fund and French firm Lafarge, owners of the Bamburi Cement company.
Justice Loice Komingoi stopped the takeover of the land in Athi River because the rules that guide the compulsory acquisition were not followed.
Our effort to talk to EAPCC MD Oliver Kirubai on Thursday hit a snag when the corporate department claimed the boss was busy outside the station.
During his speech at Portland on Tuesday, Kuria said the government was aware of the people they will deal with in the grabbed company’s land.
“These are not ordinary people. They are super rich in Mavoko. When they appeared at public participation recently, we saw them arriving in cars, bigger than those driven by ministers,” Kuria said.