Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary (CS) Ms. Alice Muthoni Wahome has declared war on cartels and fraudsters who have been jamming land offices around the Country and defrauding Kenyans of their hard-earned money and property.
Speaking in Naivasha on Thursday during a meeting with all her Departmental Heads and other senior ministry officials, Wahome vowed to deal with fraudsters some of whom have been working with some Ministry officials to swindle Kenyans of money and their land by illegally changing the documents.
“We will deal with the fraudsters and recall and cancel all the fake titles they have acquired and call them out regardless of who they are,” the CS said and ordered them to keep of land offices.
In this regard, a tough-talking Wahome revealed that the Ministry has a pending bill of about Sh.8billion arising from litigations in court but also promised to scrutinize the documents before any payment is made on the concluded lawsuits.
She further noted that the Ministry also has about 2,000 cases pending in the Land and Environment Courts (ELC) and urged the courts to expedite these land matters.
“The more these cases delay in court, the more they attract extra cost and delay justice and the fraudsters take advantage of the delay to continue with their illegal activities,” Wahome said.
To this end, the CS said the ongoing digitization of the land registries will be a game changer as it will put an end to the disappearance of land documents and other fraudulent activities, protect all the data, and bring efficiency to the entire process of land transactions.
Wahome observed that digitization of the Central Land Registry in Nairobi was complete and the process will soon be rolled out in the entire Country.
She also stated that her Ministry through Department of Planning was working with County governments in securing land set aside for the Special Economic Zones in order to ensure a seamless process for all who want to invest in those zones.
Wahome announced that adjudication of land was going on in the entire Country and her Ministry will hold clinics around the Country to educate Kenyans and help resolve various land issues and noted with regret that some Kenyans have some land issues that have been pending for decades.
The CS defended the ongoing Affordable Housing Project which has stirred controversy saying it is going to create jobs for over 2 million youths and maintained that it was legal and was only being done on government land whose custodian is the Treasury. There has been a war of words flying between the Judiciary and the Executive after the courts in November last year ruled the Housing Levy Fund to be used in constructing affordable housing in the Country as unconstitutional.
The meeting was called to discuss how to improve service delivery and coordination of functions in various offices of the Ministry.
By Mabel Keya –Shikuku
