[Source: People Daily]
Owners of a 100-acre parcel of land in Ruiru on the Northern bypass are calling for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s intervention to and save them from being evicted by private developers.
The said land was allocated to 21 families in 1972 by President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta in a swap deal for their 100 acres in Njiru area, Nairobi county.
The residents claim unscrupulous government officials have colluded with grabbers, subdivided the land and generated title deeds. The alleged grabbers have since started erecting rental houses in the controversial land.
Gabriel Njoroge, whose family is a beneficiary of the land, claimed that the Survey of Kenya, Ministry of Lands and the county government of Nairobi officials processed fake title deeds and fake deed plans to help persons acquire the land.
“A land search that we as beneficiaries conducted shows that title deed No. 13166 is still a block of 100 acres and has no records of being subdivided and belongs to Njiru farmers company. There are persons claiming that they bought the land and started erecting buildings,” he said.
“When we ask questions, armed police are sent to harass and intimidate us. We have gone to all the relevant offices but have not gotten any help yet and constructions are still going on,” he added.
According to court papers, the land was to be shared equally among the 21 families with the interpretation is that the ‘common sharing’ meant that each of the families was to get a portion from each section of the land depending on the landscape to ensure that no family was disadvantaged.
The land borders the fast-growing Membley estate near Ruiru and Kenyatta University Teaching and Referral Hospital where property value has grown to above Sh60 million per acre.
Sixteen of the 21 beneficiaries have died.
[Source: People Daily]
