'You will not blackmail me,' Ruto tells absentee landowners

President William Ruto.[PCS]

President William Ruto has warned absentee landowners at the Coast against using their property claims to threaten the government over efforts to settle squatters.

Ruto said the government was ready to compensate landowners whose properties are occupied by squatters but would not evict residents who have lived on the land for years.

“You tycoons, bullies and disrespectful, you can’t be the cause of these Coast people to continue living as squatters while you have title deeds that you got in a questionable manner,” he said on Friday.

Speaking at Mama Ngina, Mombasa, Ruto said landowners seeking compensation would have to provide documentation proving ownership.

He said the his administration was ready to negotiate with landowners but would not allow squatters to be evicted from the properties.

“We give notice to those refusing to accept the Government’s compensation plan: Not a single Kenyan will be evicted from the land they have occupied and called home,” the president said.

He further added that the government would take action against landowners who rejected its compensation offer and instead sought to evict squatters.

Port expansion

Ruto also said the government would use money raised through the National Infrastructure Fund to expand the Port of Mombasa.

Coastal residents will be prioritised in employment opportunities, according to Ruto, who argued that the region had been overlooked by previous administrations.

Ruto said the port, which he described as the region’s economic lifeline, had suffered after the construction of the Naivasha dry port under the Jubilee administration, when he served as deputy president.

He said reversing that decision had helped revive economic activity in the region, including businesses that had closed.

Blue economy

The president, who is on an eight-day tour of the Coast, also said his administration would have issued 300,000 title deeds by the end of the tour on Monday.

He said the government had invested Sh40 billion in the blue economy, including the acquisition of deep-sea fishing boats that had increased the fleet from one in 2022 to 22.

Ruto also said he would announce on Monday the contractor who will operate the Shimoni Fish Port, which he said would create more than 2,500 jobs for young people from the region. The port is being developed as a dedicated fishing facility with processing and value-addition infrastructure.

The president said the government had also reached an agreement with the African Export-Import Bank for the construction of a special economic zone at Dongo Kundu, which he said would create more jobs for Coast residents.