The massive land fraud in Thika will be a thing of the past as the Ministry of Lands plans to conduct a land clinic and digitize local land records from January 2021.
This will come as a relief to thousands of residents who have lost their land to brokers and corrupt land officials through theft and double allocation.
Thika MP Patrick Wainaina said the Ministry through Principal Secretary Nicholas Muraguri said they will first complete the digitization of land records in the Nairobi office, before moving into Thika lands office.
He said the Ministry has received several complaints from Thika ranging from double allocation of land titles, fraud, and grabbing of public land, among others.
“I spoke to PS Muraguri on Wednesday and he promised that early next year, they will move to Thika to digitize its land records as well as conduct a lands clinic following the many land complaints from residents. They first want to complete digitization of land records in Nairobi, before moving to Thika. We therefore call on residents to be a bit patient till January,” he said.
He was speaking yesterday after meeting Thika West Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) Mbogo Mathioya to brief him on land challenges that the sub county has faced over the years.
The MP has been on the forefront in fighting numerous cases of land fraud involving grabbing of public land in the constituency, with the latest being a three-quarters acre public land meant for construction of a library which his office helped to restore. Residents too have been holding demonstrations protesting over land fraud, and sometimes accusing the numerous land buying companies in the area of conning them.
Mathioya warned land officials who have been involved in fraud that their days are numbered, as it emerged that brokers flock the lands office even past working hours to engage in corrupt deals.
He said he will not allow government offices to be used by brokers to defraud citizens and warned brokers from flocking around the lands office compound.
“This week, we shall have a meeting with land officials to address the issue. However, from what I’m gathering, brokers have taken over the office. Those officers found to be colluding with them will have themselves to blame,” said the DCC.
Thika lands office serves Thika Constituency, parts of Murang’a and lower Machakos Counties and parts of Juja constituency.
By Muoki Charles
