Mihang’o residents in Embakasi East Constituency held protests over what they alleged was an orchestrated grabbing of public land set aside for constructing a court, a chief’s camp, and a police station.
The residents, who held a peaceful protest on Sunday, accused an unnamed Nairobi tycoon of trying to invade their public land earmarked for housing security agencies.
The angry residents marched to the site where the land is located and demanded the National Lands Commission (NLM) intervene and halt the impending land grabbing by an unidentified tycoon who had initiated a process of grabbing the land.
In their appeal, they asked the NLM, the commission responsible for managing public land to act swiftly to prevent the tycoon from grabbing their public land in Mihang’o.
A signpost showing that a parcel of land.
Photo
Capital
They further claimed they have been forced to deal with people whom the tycoon has been sending to come into the night to place beacons causing them to raise eyebrows on his intentions.
“This place is allocated to house the chief’s camp and our police. But there is a developer from nowhere who we even do not know has shown intent to grab our land,” one resident said.
They lamented if the lands commission fails to intervene, there would be an increase in insecurity in the area since the unidentified tycoon has been accessing the land and conducting activities.
“It is purely up to us to organise ourselves. We are going as a community to protect that land and any other public land that is within the Mihang’o location,” another vowed, insisting that they will continue fighting for their public utilities.
Public land is designated for use by government entities to serve the community, and any unauthorised access by other people may be an attempt to grab public land, they stressed.
“We will not allow the land that we have set aside as residents of Mihang’o for anyone to come and grab our land,” added another one.
In Kenya, public land is governed by the National Land Policy and various laws such as the Land Act (2012) and the Constitution of Kenya (2010) which stipulate that public land should be held by the government in trust for the people.
It comes barely five months after the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) launched investigations over claims of fraudulent procurement of a 5.12-acre parcel of land in Karen belonging to the Nairobi City County government. In the incident, private developers are reported to have grabbed the land and are now seeking compensation of Ksh1.28 billion from City Hall.
National Lands Commission chairman Gershom Otachi before National Assembly Lands committee
Photo
Parliament of Kenya
