No change in Waitiki land saga as he now demands Sh10 billion from Government

Mombasa, Kenya: Evanson Kamau Waitiki has demanded Sh10 billion compensation so he can surrender his 930 acre land in Likoni for Government to settle some 120,000 squatters.

"It should be anything around Sh10 billion if not more. The Sh10 million per acre I am asking for is fair because we are talking about prime land in the heart of a city like Mombasa," he told The Standard yesterday.

Waitiki also took issue with Sunday's announcement by Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu and National Land Commission (NLC) chairman Dr Mohammed Swazuri that he surrendered the land's title after negotiations.

FALSE CLAIMS

"I have no problem parting with my land in an amicable settlement, but, I do object to Ngilu saying we have reached an agreement when she cannot produce any document to back the said agreement.

"While I support Government's efforts to resettle squatters, it is wrong for the two to make such false claims at a public rally," he said.

The land owner claimed the announcement has also put his life in danger because people believe he has a lot of money.

"I now feel threatened when walking on the streets because people think I have already been paid and I have bundles of cash in my pocket," he said.

Government estimates that at least 120,000 people live on the land and Waitiki blames cartels made up of chiefs and powerful former local administrators as being behind the 1990s invasion of his farm.

"Those currently occupying my land bought it knowing full well that the land did not belong to the people who sold it to them. The way this land was distributed and bought smacks of impunity. for surely, how does one acquire such prime property for as little as Sh10,000 without asking questions? he asked.

Waitiki said although he had, in the past, insisted on eviction he is now willing to allow the Government acquire the land in order to avert a possible humanitarian crisis that could follow the eviction.

The tycoon said he last met Dr Swazuri in August 2013 and confirmed having had an informal sitting with the Lands CS in 2013 where there was no . Yesterday he also claimed he met the Lands CS, informally, without reaching an agreement.

"In that meeting, I told Ngilu that I welcomed negotiations from Government on a willing seller, willing buyer basis. I however, also made it very clear that I detest the prospect of having an individual or a group of people an inch of my land without paying a cent for it," he said.

 

NO CHANGE

It is rather telling that Waitiki was conspicuously absent at the Sunday meeting, organised by Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho, where Ngilu and Dr Swazuri made the announcement and he yesterday reiterated that Waitiki Farm is not yet public land.

"The land's status remains private since there is no sale agreement and neither have I surrendered the land's original title deeds to Government or any agency," he said.

Waitiki further observed that there is a court order in force directing Government to evict the tress passers from his farm, adding that this can only be cancelled if he agrees to sell the land to Government at a price "agreeable to me."

During the public meeting in Likoni, area MP Masoud Mwahima said he has been having sleepless nights over the impending eviction of Waitiki farm squatters.

"This issue must not be politicised. It has to be handled soberly in order to avert a possible humanitarian crisis," he said.

Yesterday, a village elder and squatter Ali Simba asked Government to buy the farm and formally settle them in order to put an end to the eviction threats which have hanged over their heads for many years.

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