Grabbers who divided amongst themselves government land and embarked on constructing houses as they sold some parcels to unsuspecting buyers in Nyakumu sub-location of Kikuyu sub-county have been put on notice.
Kiambu County Acting governor Dr.James Nyoro while accompanying members of the Kiambu Development Implementation Committee Meeting (DCICC) on a site tour of water pans in the region warned that the government will not sit back and let grabbers settle on her land.
Dr.Nyoro who was shown the more than 100 acres which has already been demarcated by the land grabbers expressed shock that someone could steal what belongs to the government in broad daylight.
He directed Kikuyu sub-county administrator Ms Celina Muriithi to mobilize her team on the ground, verify whatever documents they had in their possession to confirm if they were authentic.
The administrator who was also on the tour said she would embark on the exercise with speed as soon as possible.
He warned that issues to deal with land in Kiambu were emotive and that whoever allowed them to squat on the land in question was misguided as land belonging to the government whether National or County Government must be protected.
Dr.Nyoro advised anyone interested in buying land to do due diligence and follow proper procedures before attempting to pay anyone as “ they may be buying something that is does not exist”.
He told those people who claimed to have any papers that authorized them to settle on the land to avail them to the sub-county coordinator for verification.
“There are three categories of people on this land. Those who allege they have titles, those without papers but allege to have paid and those without anything to show after squatting on land briefly and selling it to unsuspecting buyers,” he said.
He said all those claiming ownership of any land in the area must be vetted and their documents verified to confirm that they were genuine owners.
During the tour, the team learnt that some pans had been constructed on land belonging to the County government but has not been properly done, thus exposing people in the area to danger. None has been secured to the required standards.
The decision to tour the water pans was arrived at after Engineer Loice Kahiga of the National Irrigation Authority reported in an earlier meeting that there were 642 water pans in Kikuyu and Limuru Sub Counties of Kiambu County.
It was at the end of the journey when the team visited one farmer who was currently using his water pan for irrigation in his farm where he had planted onions, spinach and tomatoes.
There was a sigh of relief on the visitors as that was the only water pan which the Kiambu county Engineer Samuel Kirera gave a clean bill saying it had been properly done.
By Lydia Shiloya
