Squatters on disputed Waitiki farm to be screened as govt seeks to compensate owner, says Swazuri

Squatters on a 930-acre private farm in Likoni are to be screened for verification and their property audited to pave the way for compensation of its owner.

The government will conduct the audit at the Waitiki farm in a week’s time, according to National Land Commission Chairman Muhammad Swazuri.

Dr Swazuri, who spoke at the burial of four landslide victims at Manganyakulo Village in Kwale County on Saturday, said the verification was meant to ascertain the number of houses on the farm, their owners and the acreage occupied.

“Right now, we cannot talk about compensation of the original owner (Mr Evanson Waitiki) without us conducting an identification survey to find out who owns what,” he said.

That would enable the commission to determine the amount to be paid to Mr Waitiki, he added.

Already, the commission is setting up a team comprising of its representatives and others from the Mombasa County government, the Ministry of Land and the county commissioner’s office to oversee the survey.

Once the audit is done, Dr Swazuri said, the commission would be able to negotiate with Mr Waitiki and calculate the value due to him.

It will be the first time the government is conducting a census on the farm, which has been a subject of political campaigns.

In 2013, politicians, including presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate, Mr William Ruto, made promises to the squatters in an attempt to woo voters from the coast region.

WAITIKI WELCOMED PLANNED AUDIT

Mr Waitiki welcomed the planned audit in the farm, saying it was long overdue.

He argued that government agents had been talking about his property with ignorance.

“This should have been done immediately I got a court order in 2001 but leaders and government officials have only been engaging in politicising my ownership,” he said by phone from Nairobi.

He said his survey had found that the people who invaded his land after he was evicted from it in 1999 were rich individuals, some of whom own between 10 and 20 houses.

“I hope their survey will isolate genuine squatters from fake ones who are out to make quick money by illegally occupying my property,” said Mr Waitiki.

His survey indicated that government officials were among the people who had put up palatial buildings on his farm claiming to be squatters, he added.

“You cannot call such individuals squatters and the government should isolate them so that they pay land rates as per the prevailing value of what they occupy within my land,” he said.

A visitor to the controversial farm cannot help but notice posh houses with a clear seafront view.

Meanwhile, the commission will adjudicate and allocate four parcels of land after the Kwale County government declined to extend their expired 99-year leases.

“Kwale County has approached us to allocate Kombani Block 18, Waa Block 10, Block 11 and 12 that go to the seafront and Vanga’s 1,500 acres as settlement schemes for squatters occupying them,” Dr Swazuri said.