Land documents belonging to controversial Dunga Unuse missing, says Swazuri

A police officer keeps guard as a bulldozer demolishes houses at Dunga Unuse slums in Mombasa. Now NLC Chairman Muhammad Swazuri says documents for the controversial parcel of land cannot be traced at the Mombasa Land Registry making it difficult to identify the rightful owner. PHOTO | WACHIRA MWANGI | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • A Mombasa High Court ruling had earlier indicated that the property belongs to the Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited.
  • The commission’s intention was to find out the rightful owner of the prime property so as to settle down the dispute through dialogue, Dr Swazuri said.
  • Dr Swazuri denied claims by county Executive for Land Francis Thoya that he has met the ‘ghost’ owners to plan on how to evict the squatters.

Land documents belonging to Mombasa's controversial Dunga Unuse five-acre parcel have gone missing.

The National Land Commission (NLC) Chairman Muhammad Swazuri has said the records for the piece of land from where squatters were evicted last week cannot be traced at the Mombasa Land Registry.

A Mombasa High Court ruling had earlier indicated that the property belongs to the Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited.

More than 500 families were last Tuesday evicted by police and confrontations have been witnessed for the entire week.

Five people were reportedly injured.

“When the commission heard of the demolitions, we decide to go to the records to find out who the owners of the parcels are so that we initiate negotiations.

“We did not find any; up to now we are looking for them (records),” Dr Swazuri said.

FIND RIGHTFUL OWNER

The commission’s intention was to find out the rightful owner of the prime property so as to settle down the dispute through dialogue, Dr Swazuri said.

“If the owner has the documents and they got them in the correct way, we will be required to tell the settlers the land does not belong to them. But if they did not, their title hangs in the balance,” the NLC chairman warned.

Among the issues that the commission wants to establish from the documents include when the evictees settled on the land, when the claimants acquired and left the property and how it was done.

He faulted Westlands Properties Limited, which moved into the land with bulldozers and more than 50 police officers to guard the laying down of a perimeter wall’s foundation on Saturday.

Dr Swazuri agreed with Mombasa County, which has claimed the developers do not have an approved plan for the perimeter wall and any other structure.

The law requires that the county issues a construction permit for any structure to be set up after approving its plan, and Mombasa County government says it has not issued the document.

Dr Swazuri denied claims by county Executive for Land Francis Thoya that he has met the ‘ghost’ owners to plan on how to evict the squatters.