NLC to begin valuation for Wundanyi Airstrip land payout

Land commission officials are set to begin a valuation exercise for 12 private land parcels in Taita Taveta that were irregularly fenced off by the airports' authority. 

Kenya Airports Authority appropriated the land for the Ikanga airstrip in Voi subcounty.

The National Lands Commission will, after the exercise, state the sums KAA should pay owners of each parcel taken.

The exercise is expected to end the protracted land dispute between the airport authority and local residents.

County NLC official Dennis Mutungi said the valuers will visit the affected land at Ikanga area to establish how much they are worth for purposes of buying them. 

Mutungi spoke in Mwatate on Tuesday during the county development implementation and coordination committee meeting chaired by the county commissioner Rhoda Onyancha.

The authority has been embroiled in a conflict with over 55 local residents who have accused it of illegally extending the boundaries of the Sh300 million airstrip.

The residents claimed that while erecting a fence around the airstrip, 15 parcels of privately-owned land were fenced off, rendering the affected persons landless.

A ground-verification report from the county lands office dated April 4 last year confirmed that KAA had illegally fenced off the disputed land parcels in 2015. 

The report found that the runway at the airstrip measured a length of 580 metres against the original length of 520 meters as cited in the designs.

The runway also had a width of 102 metres against the approved width of 50 meters.

A road adjacent to the airstrip was also partially closed by the fencing cutting off residents from accessing their farms.

In May, the Senate Committee on Lands, Environment and Natural Resources toured the area to verify the claims of encroachment by KAA.

Chairman Mwangi Githiomi and the members received a petition from the affected residents who demanded compensation from KAA.

The committee chair said that KAA should move with speed to compensate the local residents to operationalise the airstrip that has been idle owing to the conflict.

“This airstrip should be in use because its public money that was used to put it up. KAA should resolve this matter as quickly as possible to avoid further delays,” Githiomi said.

The local residents said they are not opposed to the project and wanted to see it operational as soon as possible.  

Joseph Mwaludi, one of the affected farmers, said they only wanted fairness in the exercise of land acquisition by KAA.

“We are happy about the project but would like to be compensated for our land,” he said.