The State Department of Lands, through the Busia County Lands Office, has distributed more than 300 land title deeds to residents of Bulemia and Magombe sub-locations in Bunyala sub-county.
The move comes after President William Ruto’s directive last week during his development tour of the Lower Nzoia Irrigation Project.
Speaking to the press in her office on Wednesday, Busia County Land Registrar Violet Lamu said that a total of 382 title deeds had been issued to the deserving landowners.
“We received 1031 title deeds from Nairobi when the President was here, where 982 were for Bulemia and 49 were for Magombe, and the President directed that they should be given to the owners. Until today, 369 titles for Bulemia have been picked while 13 title deeds for Magombe have been given out too,” said Lamu.
Lamu stated that the issuance of the title deeds is free of cost, urging residents to pick their title deeds from the office.
“We are not charging anything as long as the owners have come with a copy of an identification card. For those who are taking as beneficiaries, they are coming with an introductory letter from the area chief and the death certificate. We will make sure we take the remaining title deeds to them,” she said.
Lamu also said family wrangles on who should keep the title deed have been a challenge to them, as many families are polygamous.
“The adjudication was done in 1995, and the majority of the owners have died. Due to polygamy in many families, the wrangles between who is to be the administrator of the title deed have been a challenge to us, as both families have been fighting for the custody of the title deed. We have been advising them to do succession before we issue them the title deed,” she added.
The Registrar noted that the office has many title deeds which have not been picked up by the owners and urged those who had undergone the processes to check with her office to pick up their title deeds.
“We have title deeds of the Magombe and Lugari areas, which we received in 2019, where for the Magombe we have 1500 title deeds, while for the Lugari we have 2100 title deeds. We are urging the owners of these title deeds to come and pick them,” she advised.
Beneficiaries led by John Malava from Budalang’i expressed their happiness on receiving the title deed, adding that this would help to dissolve many land disputes.
“We are very grateful to the government for giving us this document. This will help to solve many land disputes that have been in existence for the years. My advice to those who have not picked their title deeds is that they should come so that they receive this document,” he said.
By Rodgers Omondi
