Mudavadi faults State for excluding residents in Land matters

Amani National Congress (ANC) party leader Musalia Mudavadi has criticised the national government and the National Land Commission (NLC) for failing to involve Lamu County administration when handling land deals.

Addressing the public at Mkunguni Square in Lamu town on Saturday, Mr Mudavadi cautioned NLC against targeting and acquiring large portions of land before consulting both the community and the county government.

"NLC is targeting at acquiring large tracts of land without consulting the Lamu people or even the county government. This should stop and consultations and concurrence with the people of the affected areas sort.

"Titles should be issued for all areas in Lamu especially the islands inclusive of their farms on the mainland,” Mr Mudavadi said.

He said most land that has been offered for the Lamu Port South Sudan Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) corridor project was not acquired honestly.

"Before NLC authorises compensation, it should have first investigated how titles were acquired before rushing compensation.

"Justice must also be done in land compensation. The people of Lamu deserve first priority rather than the current trend where new land owners are compensated at the expense of locals because of selective issuance of title deeds," he said.

He called on the government and NLC to engage in comprehensive issuance of title deeds for all areas in Lamu, especially in the islands inclusive of their farms on the mainland.

Similarly, Lamu Governor Issa Timamy condemned NLC Chair Muhammad Swazuri for deliberately overlooking the county leadership whenever making land decisions.

He asked Dr Swazuri to always consult the county's leadership.

"As county government, we won’t allow Swazuri to come from Nairobi and dictate what will be done in Lamu.

"He should even stop engaging in land issues without involving us and our people. Whether he likes it or not, he should fully consult the county leadership before making any move as far as land is concerned here.

"We have grand plans of adjudicating and settling our Lamu people in our lands and not otherwise,” Mr Timamy said.

Their views come at a time when the county government has filed a petition at the Malindi High Court barring the survey of the controversial Manda Settlement Scheme by the lands agency.

On April 8 this year, NLC officially launched the survey following a court order permitting the process and announced that at least 375 squatters were expected to be resettled in the Scheme after the survey.

But the exercise has been halted.