President Kenyatta accused of using land to woo Coast

The government has been accused of politicising the land issue at Coast with plans to issue title deeds.

The ministry of Lands intended to issue the documents without involving the National Land Commission, claimed Muslims for Human Rights (Muhuri) lobby on Monday.

“The minister of lands should avoid interfering with the work of the commission. Her ministry has no power to issue land titles,” said Muhuri acting executive director Rahma Gulam.

The Lands Cabinet Secretary is Mrs Charity Ngilu.

Ms Gulam told Mrs Ngilu to stop usurping the powers of the Lands team.

President Kenyatta is set to issue at least 60,000 titles to residents of Kwale, Kilifi and Mombasa counties. The titles, said the Muhuri chief, were not in order and were bound to worsen the land problems in the region.

She said if not addressed, the irregularity would fuel land conflicts that have rocked the Coast in the past.

“It is because of land injustices in this region that groups like Mombasa Republican Council have sprung up and attracted a lot of support among the residents on issue of secession. Let’s not use land issues to seek political mileage,” she said.

However, political activist Mgandi Kalinga defended the government’s plan, saying the ministry had consulted widely with concerned county governments, the National Land Commission and stakeholders. The title deeds to be issued, he said, were not new as they had been uncollected at the ministry for a long time.

Muhuri officials addressed journalists during demolition of structures put up by private developers at Mbaraki Girls’ Secondary School.

The officials accused the developers of buying plots that had been grabbed from the school.