Efforts to resolve long-standing land disputes in Kilifi County have intensified with the arrival of the National Assembly Public Petitions’ Committee.
The committee led by Kitui East MP Nimrod Mbai is in the process of addressing public petitions on delayed adjudication and settlement of residents in the area.
Worth noting is that the committee will listen to the pleas of over 30,000 residents who have lived as squatters for more than 40 years in the Kilifi North constituency.
Delayed adjudication has denied land ownership to the residents, leaving them at risk of eviction by land grabbers.
Briefing the media after a closed-door meeting with Kilifi County Commissioner Josphat Biwott, Mr. Mbai said they will make every effort, including creating laws that will simplify and quicken the process of land settlement for residents, to end the ownership disputes.
“The local administration led by the County Commissioner and the sub-county administrators does not have laws that can help them resolve issues at the grassroots level,” he said.
“We have asked the county commissioner to sit down with leaders and locals to bring a legislative proposal to our committee, which Mr. Baya and our legal clerk will present not only to address the Mnarani land problem but all the land disputes in the coastal region,” he added.
According to the committee chairman, residents living in Mnarani, Kibarani, and Tezo may be relieved after being promised to be resettled soon.
Kilifi North Member of Parliament Owen Baya expressed confidence that Parliament has the capacity to resolve long-standing land disputes because their previous attempts have been successful.
“Parliament has proven that it is able. Mazrui land was reclaimed through Parliament, and I still believe we shall reclaim the rest. I have absolute confidence that our parliament can resolve land problems in the Coast Region,” he said.
Hundreds of residents affected by land disputes came out in large numbers to talk to the lawmakers in Kibarani and Mnarani areas of Kilifi town, hoping to get their titles as soon as possible.
Cases of land grabbing in Kilifi have become rampant, and thousands of residents live in fear of eviction for failing to obtain title deeds for their land parcels.
By Jackson Msanzu
