19,000 ranch members to get title deeds

Administration Police officers prepare to carry the casket containing the remains of their colleague, Corporal James Irungu Mwangi, in Kirinyaga County, on Friday. [PHOTO: MUNENE KAMAU/STANDARD]

Some 19,000 members of the Embakasi Ranching Company will soon get title deeds, Governor Evans Kidero has said.

Dr Kidero said members who built houses on the ranch without the necessary documents have a chance to make fresh applications to have their structures approved, courtesy of a regularisation Bill that has since been passed.

Those who have already settled on the ranch will, upon submitting their applications, have their buildings inspected using their share certificates.

"Those who built their houses without following the laid-down procedures will have to bring down their structures or else our bulldozers will demolish them as we did at Huruma," he said.

The governor, who spoke in Mutithi village in Kirinyaga County during the burial of Corporal James Irungu Mwangi of the Administration Police on Friday, said they had finalised plans and President Uhuru Kenyatta would soon issue the land titles.

Meanwhile, Kidero also urged Kenyans to shun violence and embrace tolerance. "I urge Kenyans to emulate members of the Embakasi Ranch, who co-exist peacefully despite coming from all the 42 Kenyan tribes," Kidero said.

"Leaders must always consult the people. We should never impose our interests on them. Instead, our role should be to improve their lives," Kidero said.

Area governor Joseph Ndathi urged Kenyans to respect each other and complement the role security officers play in ensuring law and order.

He also urged citizens to consider security officers their brothers and sisters. "Some view police officers as enemies yet these are our children, brothers and sisters. This has to change for a safer society," Ndathi said.

The governor called on security officers to search all those attending public functions, including church services, to end cases of criminals planting explosives in places of worship.

Kirinyaga County Commissioner Erastus Ekidor said the war against illicit liquor was almost won. He said they were working with Nyumba Kumi initiative and Community Policing members to end illegal brews in the region," he said.