The Kiambu government is planning to publish in the local dailies the names of more than 1,000 persons occupying public land illegally.
Kiambu Governor Kimani Wamatangi said on Monday that the county government has started the process of recovering land acquired unlawfully.
"My administration is collaborating with the National Land Commission and Directorate of Criminal Investigations to reclaim prime land which was acquired under dubious circumstances," Wamatangi said.
He spoke at the county government headquarters in Kiambu town when he received six title deeds of public land recovered by the DCI.
NLC county coordinator Halake Molu, while handing over the surrendered parcels of land, said that among the parcels of lands surrendered include Tinganga/Cianda block 1/741, designated for a public cemetery.
Others are blocks 1/748, set for open market and other facilities; 1/704, meant for a cattle dip; 1/199, designated for a water spring; 1/2178, assigned for open space, and 1/2220, set for a market.
The county boss said his administration is committed to safeguarding public land.
He said the county government has flagged as public land 720 acres spread across the county, with an estimated value of more than Sh40 billion.
"Those currently occupying the land are at risk of losing it as they will be formally notified through a public notice to be published in local newspaper this week," Wamatangi said.
He said those affected will have a 60-day window to submit their documents for scrutiny by relevant government agencies.
"We have evidence to show that it is public land, which they have refused to return. We shall initiate the mechanisms to recover the land and it will be put in the right use," the governor said.
He said the burden of proof lies with the people claiming it is their land and not vice versa.
"People have been sitting on land which they took cunningly and then pretend that the burden of proof is on the government, it is on them to proof that it is land that they bought," Wamatangi said.
"If they bought genuinely, we have no issue. If you inherited genuinely, we have no issue. But if you took land that you know does not belong to you and you took from the public, then you have a problem with us," he added.
The county boss expressed concerns about lack of public land for essential development projects because of grabbing by private developers.
"In Kahawa Sukari, I started building an ECDE classroom and some people went to court claiming that the land is theirs. In Kahawa Wendani, I had to beg a public school to allow us to build a hospital inside the school which will benefit more than 200,000 persons because there is no public land to undertake such projects," Wamatangi said.
He urged those occupying public land to surrender voluntarily before legal measures are taken against them.
