Mombasa residents reject railway land cash
What you need to know:
- Fears over dubious land title owners eyeing lucrative packages.
- Changamwe locals say government’s offer is too little compensation for their investments.
Residents of Skembo Village in Changamwe have rejected compensation for their land on which the new railway will be built.
They vowed to stay put, saying the government’s offer is too little.
Mombasa Lands and Housing executive Francis Thoya voiced the county government’s concern that the compensation is meagre.
According to letters issued by the National Land Commission Chairman Muhammad Swazuri on Monday, the residents were offered between Sh20,000 and Sh400,000.
A resident, Ms Chausiku Nyale, who represented her husband, a casual labourer, Mr Fredrick Chausiku, asked how they can be paid Sh29,000 for their two-room house.
“Where shall we get land and build a house with this kind of money? We spent a lot of money constructing the house. This is not right,” she said.
DROVE AWAY
Dr Swazuri, accompanied County Commissioner Nelson Marwa, assured the more than 450 families on Monday that they would be well compensated.
The chairman said Sh4.4 billion has been set aside to pay land owners with titles, while Sh330 million would be spent on people who only have structures without titles.
On Tuesday, the angry residents who met at Skembo Beach said they had been told to move out of the land.
The contractor who had started moving equipment near the beach ready to start work, drove away a bulldozer to save it from being damaged.
Mr Thoya said he discussed the matter with Governor Hassan Joho and they agreed that the compensation package is too little.
“We wrote a letter to the commission and warned that there are 42 titles being held by people, who may have acquired the fraudulently. We requested that such people should not be compensated until we complete investigations, but the commission did not listen to us,” he said.
The official asked why the residents had been offered so little money and yet the land was more valuable than in other areas like Voi where landowners had been handsomely compensated.
“We asked for a relocation action plan but have not received it, yet people are being asked to move out. This is not fair and we will not allow our people to be treated as if they are second class citizens.
