Squatters, landlords begin talks

Ten landlords in Nyali on Thursday began negotiations with about 90,000 squatters with the aim of selling their land to them.

The negotiations were brokered by the area Member of Parliament Mr Hezron Awiti Bollo at Kongowea Catholic Primary School after he met representatives of the squatters two months ago at Kambi Kikuyu.

In the meetings, each side told of frustrations it claimed resulted from the other party’s unwillingness to cooperate to resolve the long running landless problem in the area.

Squatters claimed landlords had declined to negotiate while they charged hefty monthly rates without giving them an option to purchase the land.

The landlords on the other hand blamed squatters for refusing to turn up for negotiations and not paying rates for the land they had occupied for years.

Mr Ashvin Ratilal Doshi said his family had surrendered hundreds of acres of its land to squatters in the past.

“We are happy with this initiative brokered by the MP.

We promise to cooperate to find a lasting solution to this problem,” said Mr Doshi.

Another landlord, Mr Bini Faraj said out of the millions of shillings of land rates due to him from the 64 squatters occupying his 468 acres, only a fraction had been paid.

Mr Faraji said he has been paying Sh486,000 as land rates to Mombasa Municipal Council, now Mombasa county, every year.

“What we want, among other things, is negotiations between tenants and land owners, a survey of our land be conducted, plots subdivided and an agreement reached between us and tenants on the amount to be paid, depending on size of the plot,” he said.

Mr Salim Swalleh “Kabus”, another landlord, said the squatter problem had persisted for long because of official corruption.

“Millions of shillings have been raised in the past for squatter settlement, some from donors such as the World Bank.

Instead of solving the problem, the money has gone into private pockets,” he said.

If implemented, the programme will see thousands of squatters who have lived on private land for more than 50 years own land, eventually.

Like many areas in the Coast, Nyali is swarmed with landless people.

Numerous demolitions have occurred in the past with bloody confrontations resulting in deaths and injuries.

Dunga Unuse, Kwa Bulo, Mwembe Legeza, Bogobogo, Funga Shati, Bububu, Kisauni, Vikwathani among other areas have constantly been scenes of bloody skirmishes.

Mr Awiti informed the landlords that there was money from the World Bank for squatter settlement programmes.

“There is no problem as many of you fear. Money is there for such a programme.

What we want is a formula on how to go about the whole issue.

In this connection, I want you to form committees immediately so that we hit the ground running as this is not time for politics and empty words but development,” he said.