The government has moved to ease the financial burden on thousands of low-income land settlers.
This is after the cabinet endorsed the waiver of interest and penalties on outstanding land settlement loans.
The decision is aimed at supporting families who have struggled for decades to clear accrued balances due to economic hardship and challenges linked to agricultural productivity.
According to a cabinet dispatch released on Tuesday, the waiver will apply to settlers in 520 settlement schemes across 26 counties. It covers an accumulated portfolio of Sh12.3 billion.
This is according to recommendations from the Land Settlement Fund Board of Trustees, which informed the Cabinet decision.
Beneficiaries will now be able to obtain title deeds, use them as collateral for investment, and regularise land accounts that have been in arrears for decades.
The measure aligns with the government’s ongoing efforts to resolve historical land injustices, enhance agricultural productivity, and unlock land-based economic value.
Once interest and penalties are removed, settlers will be able to obtain title deeds for the land they occupy, use those titles as collateral for loans, and regularise land accounts that have remained in arrears for years.
The cabinet said the measure aligns with the government’s efforts to resolve historical land injustices and enhance agricultural productivity.
Implementation will follow the provisions of the Public Finance Management Act.
Beneficiaries will be granted a 12-month moratorium to clear their principal balances.
The decision forms part of the government’s wider Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, which is designed to improve livelihoods, expand inclusion in economic systems, and unlock land-based productivity.
In July, the Ministry of Lands announced it planned to waive over Sh6 billion in interest on unpaid settlement fees to help land allottees collect unclaimed title deeds nationwide.
Lands CS Alice Wahome said she had already prepared a cabinet memo and sent it to the Attorney General and the Treasury Cabinet Secretary on the issue.
“I have sent a request to the Treasury CS. We have also discussed with the President, so that if it is agreeable, we will waive the interest on the fees. I have a pending Cabinet memo, which I have sent to the AG and the CS Treasury,” she said.
The CS was responding to requests by Kilifi leaders who said thousands of residents had been unable to collect their title deeds due to the huge debts owed to the Settlement Fund Trust (SFT) and called for a waiver on the interests to enable them to pay up.
Wahome acknowledged that thousands of title deeds lay uncollected in various land registries across the country, with 33,000 documents lying unclaimed at the new Malindi Lands Registry.
She asked beneficiaries of settlement schemes to promptly pay the ‘small fees’ and collect their ownership documents, saying title deeds should be kept in safe custody by holders for the security of their land.
