Lands boss issues title deeds, attacks critics
What you need to know:
- He further directed that members of the company convene an urgent Annual General Meeting to decide what they want to do with the remaining 168 acres. The meeting should not be held later than March 30, 2016.
- Mr Paul Kuria, one of the beneficiaries, said he has been living on his piece of land for 40 years but did not have any legal document on its ownership.
The National Land Commission (NLC) chairman has ordered former directors of a disputed farm to surrender the original deeds.
Dr Muhammad Swazuri said the directors of 7,000-acre Nyandarua Progressive Agencies Ltd had consistently refused to hand over the documents hindering smooth land processing.
“We are giving them a two-week notice failure to which we shall cancel the tittle deeds as per the law. The NLC is mandated to resolve land issues through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. Even if they don’t produce the "mother tittle deeds" we shall go ahead and nullify them,” Muhammad Swazuri said on Thursday.
Dr Swazuri, who was in company of his deputy Abigael Mbagaya, said the dispute among the directors has existed for more than 40 years.
“Owners of the land bought by the land buying company were not able to access their tittle deeds due to wrangles between the various directors of the agency,” he said.
He further directed that members of the company, which is in Solai, Nakuru County, convene an urgent Annual General Meeting to decide what they want to do with the remaining 168 acres. The meeting should not be held later than March 30, 2016.
Mr Paul Kuria, one of the beneficiaries, said he has been living on his piece of land for 40 years but did not have any legal document on its ownership.
“I have been hesitant in developing the piece of land as I feared that something could happen that would take away my piece of land. With my copy of the tittle deed, I can now access a loan from a bank,” said Mr Kuria.
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The company was formed in 1974 by business people who came together with the aim of purchasing land previously owned by a white settler.
Additionally, the chairman defended the commission's involvement in private land disputes.
On Thursday, he hit out at critics accusing them of attempting to limit it to deal with matters of public land only.
Dr Swazuri said there have been attempts by fraudsters and land grabbers to move to court to stop the commission from addressing disputes touching on private lands.
“Whenever we move in they come out with guns blazing stating that we’re not supposed to address private land issues under the Constitution. No, the constitution allows us to,” Dr Swazuri said.
He argued that the constitution has mandated it to deal will all land disputes, not limiting it to public land.
“The Lands Act, Land Administration Act and the National Land Commission on application involves the community land, private land and public land,” he said.
