10,000 title deeds to be issued to squatters by end of year

The Government has said it will prepare and issue 10,000 title deeds for landless people in Kilifi County by the end of this year.

Kilifi county commissioner Albert Kobia yesterday said to ensure the deeds are done in time, the national government will collaborate with the county government to identify settlement schemes where survey work is yet to be completed and hasten the process

"It is the Government's obligation to ensure all landless people are allocated land and issued with official title deeds," he said.

Speaking during a squatters' meeting at Vipingo in Kilifi, the county commissioner said cases of land grabbing will not be entertained and challenged all those who have acquired land irregularly to surrender it.

Kobia's remarks come barely a week after Lands Cabinet Secretary, Charity Ngilu, visited the Kilifi Lands Registry and urged land officers to hasten the process of surveying settlement lands to pave way for issuance of title deeds.

SQUATTER PROBLEM

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The CS said the Government is prepared to issue 600,000 titles for landless people in the region in the next three years.

Ngilu said at least 100,000 titles deeds are set to be prepared and given out to squatters in the region's six counties; Taita Taveta, Kwale, Mombasa, Kilifi, Tana River and Lamu.

"The Jubilee Government is determined to address the long standing squatter's problem bedevilling the country. We are prepared to issue three million title deeds across the country in the next three years," she said.

Meanwhile, Kilifi governor Amason Kingi has said those who illegally acquired land at Gathecha settlement scheme in Kikambala are set to have the property taken away from them since the letters of offer given to them have been cancelled after the scheme's name was changed to Matandale.

"The county government successfully petitioned the Government to change the scheme's name to a more locally driven one and this automatically nullifies allocations made to non-residents," he said.