CORD, Jubilee at war over revoking of Lamu title deeds

NAIROBI, KENYA: President Uhuru Kenyatta’s decision to revoke title deeds in Lamu has elicited mixed reactions across the country.

Some Opposition leaders have termed the exercise as a public relations gimmick, while those from the Jubilee side have hailed the President for fulfilling his pre-election pledge to solve land problems at the Coast.

In the Coast region, there are those who dismissed it as a narrow approach to a complex problem.

Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar said the President acted to divert the country’s attention from the Opposition’s calls for a referendum.

However, Mining Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala supported President Uhuru’s actions.

“The President campaigned at the Coast on the platform of solving land problems, and that is what he is doing,” Balala said in Mombasa Saturday.

But Opposition leaders in the region said the President had failed to tackle the problem, and that he had resorted to playing politics in a bid to endear himself to a section of Coast electorate.

Historical problem

“It is clear that the President is playing politics with the issue of land, but he cannot tackle it from such a narrow point of view because this is a historical problem that should be looked at from a broader perspective,” said Omar.

“If the President wants us to take his efforts seriously, he should start with land illegally acquired by political families in the region. In Lamu, land is owned by 22 firms, but in Taita Taveta, it is owned by two families.”

The senator said he had written a letter to National Land Commission demanding to be furnished with information on who the owners of big chunks of land in Taita Taveta are.

He insisted that the President should not only audit land allocations that happened in Lamu between 2011 and 2012, but should start in the 1960s.

Also in support of the revocation was Kaloleni MP Gunga Mwinga, who described the President’s gesture as the solution to the land crisis at the Coast. He said Kenyans who were beneficiaries of grabbed land must surrender it and allow the right people to benefit from the property.

“Stop this trend where the local people are denied their land. This is why insecurity has been a big problem in Lamu,” Mwinga said.

This call was echoed by Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir.

However, Nyali MP Awiti Bolo said there were many areas in the region affected by the problem, and that the National Land Commission should be empowered to deal with the problem instead of the Head of State singling out one area.

Unnecessary anxiety

“From the Government list, it appears many beneficiaries received the land many years before Orengo took office. Who allocated that land?” posed Bolo.

And Kilifi Senator Stewart Madzayo challenged the President to name and shame the owners of the companies behind the Lamu land problem.

In Nakuru, Senator James Mungai and Bahati MP Kimani Ngunjiri said grabbing of land belonging to the Lamu Port corridor was unacceptable, and lauded the President for acting decisively.

The Bahati MP said the illegal acquisition was behind insecurity in the county, adding that former Lands Minister James Orengo owed Kenyans an explanation.

“The land was grabbed during James Orengo’s tenure at the ministry, so how can we trust CORD when they talk about land issues?” Ngunjiri posed.

On Friday, Orengo denied claims by Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu that some title deeds bore his signature.

“Mr Orengo wishes to remind Mrs Ngilu that ministers do not append their signatures on title deeds, and, therefore, she should desist from misleading the public with the aim of causing unnecessary anxiety and excitement,” read his statement.

Machakos Senator Johnstone Muthama said the action of recovering land in Lamu was pretentious.

“President Uhuru is lying to Kenyans that he is doing something special by recovering 500,000 acres of land in Lamu. This is to fool Kenyans while his family owns thousands of acres of land whose acquisition can’t be explained,” Muthama said.

The Senator termed the President’s action as diversionary and intended to paint the Opposition Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) leadership as corrupt.

“Let Uhuru produce evidence linking Siaya Senator James Orengo to fraudulent deals at the Lands ministry. If land was dished out by the Commissioner of Lands and his junior officers, they should be held responsible,” Muthama added.

“Uhuru wants to use Orengo to portray CORD leaders as having been involved in the Mpeketoni attacks. There are better ways of recovering land, and those who hold illegal title deeds should return them so that there are no displaced persons in Kenya. However, the President should not frame the Opposition to gain political mileage.”

Kibra MP Ken Okoth supported Muthama, saying that Orengo “ni msafi kama pamba” (clean as cotton) and if the President wants to arrest him, he should start with those who have grabbed land in the past 50 years.

Lurambi MP Raphael Otalo urged the President to do a thorough job in finding a lasting solution to the land problem and not intimidate people.

“The President knows what is happening in Lamu. He knows who took settlers to Lamu, where residents are just asking for land alienated from them that time,” Otalo said. “Let the Government go through the records thoroughly and solve the land matter. They should not single out Orengo because he is vocal in pushing for a referendum.”

Leaders from Nyanza region dared the Government to produce evidence linking Orengo to the Lamu land scam.

But The National Alliance (TNA) chairman Johnson Sakaja dismissed claims that the land scam is a gimmick to divert attention from the current referendum debate or the security situation in Lamu County.

“Some of the government officials named in the allegations leading up to the land scam have benefited directly from those allocations. Let the truth come out and action taken against those involved,” said Sakaja.

But Nyanza Council of Church Leaders chairman Bishop Ogonyo Ngede dared the Government to produce memos, if any, that Orengo might have issued to influence issuance of land titles in Lamu. “If they have no such evidence, they should remain silent about the issue,” said Ogonyo.

He proposed that the Government implements the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission report as a long lasting solution to land problems.

Kisumu Town West MP Olago Aluoch said the President’s reaction was knee-jerk: “Land problems in the Coast began during the reign of President Jomo Kenyatta, when he settled people from other regions there.”

Muhoroni MP James Koyoo said only the President of the day and Land Commissioner can allocate land, hence those who were in power when titles to the 500,000 acres of land in Lamu were issued should carry the burden.

“This is being selective with justice. Land issues in this country need to be addressed way back from independence. A long term measure should be put in place and the best way is to implement the Ndung’u Report,” Koyoo advised.

Stories by Maureen Odiwuor, Protus Mabusi Onyango, Karanja Njoroge, Abigael Sum, Barnard Sanga, Ngumbao Kithi and Willis Oketch.