Land owners in Kajiado County whose land was taken for the construction of Phase Two of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) will receive their compensation cash in two weeks’ time. Transport chief administrative secretary (CAS) Chris Obure told Parliament the ministry has written to the Treasury seeking urgent action to compensate land owners in Kajiado East Constituency after the residents petitioned Parliament.
But it emerged that the land owners will be paid based on a second list that the National Land Commission (NLC) revised following protest by civil society groups that the first list offered extremely high compensation rates.
The acceleration of the payment has been prompted by Kajiado East MP Peris Tobiko after she accused the NLC and the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) of reneging on their promise to compensate the land owners.
Mr Obure told MPs that the delay in payment was caused by complaints by certain individuals who claimed that the reward was too high hence forcing the NLC to re-evaluate the amounts awarded.
The property owners allowed the CRBC and KRC an early entry into their land as they await compensation. The land owners had agreed with the NLC on the compensation amount before the re-evaluation of the awards.
[Full article on: The Business Daily, by Edwin Mutai]
