Land grabbing in Kitale prompts National Security Council action

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen is working to address the land grabbing in Kitale. [File, Standard]

The National Security Council is set to convene to discuss the persistent grabbing of public and private prime land in Kitale, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen has said.

He directed the local County Commissioner, Gideon Oyagi, to compile a comprehensive report on the land grabbing menace and submit it to his office to guide the NSC on possible actions.

Speaking during the Jukwaa La Usalama forum in Kitale, Murkomen said cartels have taken over prime national, county government, and private parcels of land.

The land cartels, the CS said, work with land officials to fraudulently acquire prime public land, including Kitale Museum, and have employed gangs to guard and protect the grabbed land.

"Land grabbing is chronic in Kitale. Unfortunately, cartels have taken over prime land belonging to the national and county governments as well as the private sector.

"Imagine someone is claiming ownership of the space where the county commissioner's offices stand, and even the county government headquarters," he said.

A comprehensive report by the local administration, the CS said, would guide which appropriate action the NSC would take to address the menace.

He put corrupt land officials on notice and vowed to ensure that those found to have aided individuals in fraudulently acquiring public land would be prosecuted and jailed.

"As a government, we are not going to sit and watch individuals forcefully take land that does not belong to them. We are going to use the highest-level mechanisms to act and stop this vice," he added.

Apart from the land grabbing, the CS said he was perturbed by the runaway insecurity, exacerbated by unchecked drug abuse and the sale of counterfeit alcohol, and directed local security agencies to act decisively and arrest the situation.