500,000 ACRES OF LAND ACQUIRED ILLEGALLY BY PRIVATE ENTITIES IN LAMU COUNTY

A person showing a tittle deed: the President has ordered the Cabinet Secretary for Lands and National Land Commission to revoke tittle deeds issued to 22 private companies in Lamu County.

500,000 ACRES OF LAND ACQUIRED ILLEGALLY IN LAMU COUNTY

The President Uhuru Kenyatta has revealed that approximately 500,000 acres of land in Lamu County were acquired unlawfully by 22 private companies between the year 2011 and 2012. This report was given to the President by the Cabinet Secretary of Lands, Housing and Urban Development after comprehensive programme on issuance of tittles deeds which started last year.

“While in Lamu County, I directed the Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Housing and Urban Development to carry out comprehensive audit of the land allocation in Lamu County. This audit is now complete and it revealed a number of shocking details. We have established that between the year 2011 and 2012 almost 500,000 acres of public land which is almost 70% of the land within Lamu County was alienated to 22 private entities under dubious and suspiciously corrupt circumstances, “the President said.

The President said the few individuals who used legal means to acquire the land within Lamu county left thousands of families occupy only 30% of the land available for settlement within the county.

“While a few use the legal means for the wrong gains the many thousands of families living in this county occupy only 30% of the land available for settlement and production,” he stated.

President Kenyatta further said that the land was neither acquired under the laid down procedures and principles provided for in the supreme law of Kenya nor the laws regulating public land allocation.

“We have established that this alienation was not done in accordance to the principles and the binding land management in the constitution of Kenya nor the laws regulating public land alienation at the time,” the President reiterated.

He said that “criminal conspiracy” has denied individuals and families living in that region an opportunity to improve their well-being. He said land alienation in Lamu County is also responsible for the current insecurity which has left over 100 people dead within the past few weeks.

“It (land alienation) has also helped fuel the current insecurity being experienced in the region and frustrated our efforts in building cohesion in the county,” he said.

He further said such imprudent alienation of public land is not acceptable and he directed the Cabinet Secretary for Land, Housing and Urban development and National Land Commission to cancel the land tittles as soon as possible.

“This level of impunity revealed by the audit is unprecedented, unattainable and indeed unacceptable. In lights foregoing I have instructed the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Urban Development and the National Land Commission to revoke this possessed land tittles with immediate effect,” he said.

He further called upon the Inspector General of Police, the Criminal Investigation Department and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to commence investigation in the view to bring into account all persons who were involved in that “criminal enterprise” without exception.

The President said his government is committed to securing dignity, well-being and property of every Kenyan without fear or favour. He further said land is crucial in ensuring the equity in driving the economic growth that will provide improved livelihoods that the citizens and communities are yearning for.

Article 132 of the constitution of Kenya provides the president immense powers to take stand action on matters affecting the country. Article 132 (1) (c) (i) states  “report, in an address to the nation, on all the measures taken and the progress achieved in the realization of the national values, referred to in Article 10;”