Land owners in Kajiado East who sold their land to facilitate construction of Phase II of the Standard Gauge Railway will be paid in the next two weeks, according to Transport Cabinet Administrative Secretary Chris Obure.
The acceleration of the payment has been prompted by area MP Peris Tobiko, who in her petition before the National Assembly Transport Committee, accused the National Land Commission (NLC) and the Kenya Railways Corporation of reneging on their promise to compensate the landowners. According to the Transport CAS, the delay in payment followed complaints by activists who claimed that the compensation was too high, forcing the NLC to re-evaluate the amounts awarded.
The landowners will be paid based on a second list that the NLC reviewed following protests by the civil society groups that the first list was too high.
The committee temporary chair Mumias MP Johnstone Naika ruled that the landowners should not be paid less than the initial offer they were given.
