The National Land Commission has formed a seven-member committee to resolve a land dispute pitting the Catholic Church and the Nakuru county government.
The team is expected in the next one month to come up with a solution to the dispute over the land in Kinungi, Naivasha.
Each party has been laying claim to the one acre parcel.
The county government plans to construct a community hall on the land, while the church plans to construct houses.
According to Frank Kiberekenya, each party has a title deed issued by the Ministry of Lands on the same parcel of land, which has complicated the matter.
He said the commission had given each party seven days to file all ownership documents on the land as part of their investigations.
“This incident has caused disharmony between the church and the local community but we are keen for a win-win situation as the rightful owners get justice,” he said.
He said there is a similar matter that had been taken to the National Assembly by area MP Jayne Kihara, adding that the two issues would be merged.
“We have had several cases of grabbing of public land in Nakuru county but with the help of the EACC, we have managed to recover several parcels,” he said.
Naivasha East MCA Stanley Karanja welcomed the move to form a committee to investigate the matter, which he said is causing unnecessary tension in the area.
He claimed that originally, the land had been set aside for an ECDE facility but residents opted for a social hall and a library to serve the vast ward.
“We feel that some people must have conned the church by transferring the land which for years belonged to the local community,” Karanja said.
He urged the EACC to investigate the land transaction so that all those involved in the shady deal face the law.
Naivasha assistant county commissioner Catherine Gathure welcomed the move by NLC and urged residents to be patient as the committee resolves the dispute.
“The MP has also taken the matter to the Lands committee and we hope that the two levels of government will resolve this issue,” Gachure said.
Geoffrey Mwangi, a community leader, said they would abide by the law and hand over all the documents to the investigating committee while awaiting justice.
