The Ministry of Lands has admitted existence of plot disputes at the troubled Embakasi Ranching Company that has jeoperdised titling and issuance of leases to legitimate plot owners.
This follows an exposé by The Informer that the process has been derailed by revelations that a Three Star Hotel associated to a senior government honcho is sitting on a 16 acres piece of land comprising of 25 amalgamated plots.
Bonafide scheme owners have demanded a full disclosure of ownership audit to ensure legitimate land owners are not dispossessed off their land.
However, beginning today, Lands Cabinet Secretary Farida Karoney said the ministry will resume issuance of the ownership documents for the next two weeks.
“The exercise had taken a break to allow the ministry to make some corrections and sort some disputes that had been reported by the plot owners during the exercise.” The CS said through a notice placed in the local dailies over the weekend.
The ministry is under pressure to have the titling process completed after it was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta in August last year.
However, Ardhi House despite having registered remarkable reform process including digitisation of records is facing a litmus test to slay the ghost of fraudulent land transactions and irregular land allocations particularly on the disputed 25 plots in Ruai.
Nicholas Muraguri is the Principal Secretary and accounting officer of the ministry.
“In this regard, from Tuesday, May 18, 2021, the ministry will resume the exercise for the collection of the ready title deeds and signing of the leases for plot owners of the Embakasi Ranching Company. This exercise will run concurrently for two weeks. Please note that the exercise will be conducted at the Embakasi ranching company office grounds in Ruai,” the notice added.
The ministry of lands and physical planning has been issuing title deeds and leases for Embakasi ranching company plot owners since the presidential launch in August 2020
A faction of the shareholders is up in arms demanding the powerful government official surrender the contested piece of land to legitimate bonifide members.
“It’s sad that despite us fighting for this land for all those years, we have never acquired our parcels of land. We have top powerful government officials who grabbed this land without even minding us,” said John Tabania a member of the scheme.
The titling, which is being conducted at the Embakasi Ranching Company offices in Ruai, was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta at the KICC in August last year.
The 24,000-acre ranch was acquired by the company 45 years ago. Members are mainly from Nairobi, Kiambu and Murang’a counties. Some have since died.
President Kenyatta cautioned the title deed holders against being duped into selling their properties.
“When you get your title deed, please be careful not to be cheated to sell the land you’ve fought for all these years. Keep it and use it to help yourself, your children and your grandchildren,” he advised.
Had the shareholders been issued with the title deeds, the ranch would have been dissolved by February 2018.