PROMINENT personalities have been listed among the beneficiaries of the controversial Chembe Kibabamuche Settlement Scheme in Kilifi county.
The National Land Commission has revealed that out of the 440 parcels, 109 involve allocations to politicians, foreigners and tycoons.
Deputy NLC chairperson Abigael Mukholwe, who led the public hearings on the review of grants and disposition of public land in Malindi, Kilifi county, said the commission was reviewing 440 parcels and had managed to go through 160 in Chembe Kibabamuche.
Chembe Kibabamuche has had land ownership disputes for decades, with some foreigners and prominent personalities in the country reportedly owning huge tracts of land at the expense of locals.
Mukholwe said some parcels of land had over four title deeds, some of which were obtained fraudulently, an issue that led to an embargo on land transactions in the area over 15 years ago.
Once the Chembe Kibabamuche and Kilifi Jimba issue is resolved, she said, the embargo will be lifted and pave way for development.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga once testified in a Malindi court in a case over a disputed parcel of land belonging to a company of his in Chembe Kibabamuche.
Kilifi North MP Gideon Mung’aro has also been mentioned in the same settlement scheme as an allottee and last week said he was “glad” that the NLC was going to review the allocations.
It has emerged that there were many irregularities in land acquisition, including fraud and invasion of land by squatters.
There are also reports of public officers who allegedly allocated themselves large tracts of land during the adjudication and managed to get title deeds at the expense of locals.
Over 200 people demonstrated outside the gates of the hearings at Kenya Red Cross Society in Malindi and accused the NLC of being unfair to them as they had lived on the land for over 20 years.
Edrick Mwazani Mwanyoyo, the chairman of the Chembe Kibabamuche Settlement Scheme squatters, said they settled in the area for over 25 years and developed it.
He said I was only this year that the NLC turned up and did ground verification and told them that they would get title deeds.
“The squatters are not recognized, the NLC is going against the ground verification agreement; if justice will not be done there will be bloodshed in the area,” he said.
Margaret Kabibi, one of the affected squatters, accused the NLC of being used by tycoons to evict them from the land.