Nyali school wants grabbed land back

The National Land Commission was this week told how prime pieces of public plots valued at billions of shillings were allocated to individuals in Mombasa as the “owners” defended the acquisitions.

A 14-acre piece valued at Sh1.4 billion belonging to Nyali Primary School and meant for a secondary school is among those grabbed.

Another 9.3-acre belonging to the National Housing Corporation has also been taken.

The NLC is seeking information from the public on how the parcels changed hands.

TITLE DEEDS

On Friday, NLC vice-chairperson Abigael Mbagaya and her team were at the Kenya School of Government.

Nyali Primary School, through its lawyer Michael Ngure, said the institution was allocated the land in 1982.

“Many illegal structures are surprisingly being put up on the land. We want the commission to tell us how developers got title deeds,” the lawyer told journalists after making his submissions.

Mr Ngure called for the revocation of the title deeds.

“We have identified 10 illegal divisions on that land. It has a lot of structures, including highrise buildings. Some are ongoing and others are complete. Some flats have already been bought,” Mr Ngure said.

PUBLIC LAND

Some of those who bought plots told the commission that they were cleared by NLC to do so.

Ms Mbagaya, however, disowned the letters, saying the commission cannot dish out public land.

“I am also shocked. You do not need such a letter from the commission. If you want to buy land, you go to the land registry for a search.

"Why didn't they go an extra mile to find out if it was public land? They knew all along knew that it was a public land," she said.

Nyali Primary School board member John Mwangi said NLC chairman Muhammad Swazuri visited the institution on January 8, 2016 and declared that the land was public and that the commission would revert it to the school.

One of the developers told the commission that he bought a plot knowing it was private.

“The school is for the wealthy and everything that happens there is private. It is not a public school,” the man, who only identified himself as Omar, said.

He was accompanied by his lawyer Issa Timamy.

INFORMATION

Mr Omar was told by NLC commissioner Rose Musyoka that property reserved for the government has no timeline and it might take many years to be utilised.

“The school can delay as far as construction is concerned but the government is never late,” Ms Musyoka said.

Developers in Makande also failed to convince the commission that they are the true landowners as they did not have the necessary documents.

Ten individuals and firms that were allocated land did not have registry and survey maps, development plans and original titles.

They all directed the blame to the defunct Mombasa Municipal Council.

“When I bought the land from the council, I was not aware that it had been sold to the NHC. The only thing to do now is sit with the county government and chart the way forward. We are paying land rates,” Mr Ali Habshy said.

ENCROACH

He claimed to have bought the property for Sh5 million more than 10 years ago.

“Many of us will be affected by the new developments. The municipal council gave us approval and some people built their houses more than 20 years ago,” Mr Habshy said.

NHC managing director Andrew Saisi said the organisation is planning to develop the estate.

“The land is about 9.3 acres. We are still valuing it because it has ageing houses that should be torn down and replaced,” Mr Saisi said.

“At first, we did not know the number of people who had encroached on our land. There may be others but those we have identified are 18.”