A lawyer has written to Attorney General Paul Kihara, saying the Embakasi Ranching Company has only 3,500 shareholders, not the 30,000 'incorrectly' placed on the titling list.
In a letter dated August 20, John Khaminwa told the government handing out title deeds to non-shareholders is likely to cause mass evictions of legitimate shareholders whose parcels have been grabbed.
It was not clear how he arrived at the number 3,500.
President Uhuru Kenyatta said this month Embakasi Ranch owners would get 28,000 deeds by month's end.
“This [mass title issuance] will attract adverse publicity because under international law, it can be argued massive evictions do constitute crimes against humanity in that children, women and elderly people will be rendered homeless," Khaminwa wrote.
He wants the problem handled through dialogue with the ranch's board of directors so the issue can be resolved amicably.
The letter was copied to the Nairobi county attorney, NMS boss Mohammed Badi and Lands CS Farida Karoney.
This comes after President Uhuru Kenyatta announced he was going to issue the documents to more than 30,000 residents of Embakasi Ranching Company, Tassia estate and the Korogocho and Mbagathi informal settlements.
Issuance is part of the President’s Nairobi Titling Programme, launched in 2018.
The initiative falls under the National Titling Programme in which more than five million title deeds have been issued around the country in seven years.
Last week, Uhuru gave Nairobi Metropolitan Services two weeks to ensure the title deeds reach their owners.
Embakasi Ranch was established in 1975 with shareholders drawn mainly from Kiambu and Murang’a counties. Many have died.
(Edited by V. Graham)
