Report raises legal doubts on Waitiki land in Mombasa

MOMBASA: A confidential report compiled by various State agencies early this month challenges Evanson Kamau Waitiki's claim to the 930-acre property and raises new questions over the legal status of huge parts of the disputed land holding in Mombasa's Likoni area.

Waitiki is the legal owner of the 930-acre property, which has been occupied by thousands of squatters since 1997 and he has won all cases in court on the basis of documents uttered in court. Beginning early this year, he has been embroiled in a push and pull match with State officials in the Lands ministry and the National Land Commission (NLC), who have claimed he has either agreed to sell his land or surrendered its titles to settle the squatters, only for him to deny.

Beginning mid August, surveyors and land planners from NLC, the Lands ministry and the Mombasa county government began to survey and map the property and compiled the report, which has sparked new anxiety. Waitiki refused to participate in the survey, accusing the national and county governments and NLC of invading his land and threatened to sue them. And now he has denounced the report, dismissing it as a fabrication and a plot to justify the forceful takeover of his property.

The report alleges Waitiki has secretly sold 211 acres of the original 930 acres, but failed to disclose this to the Government. It further alleges Waitiki also secretly subdivided the remaining land and sold it to other people but there is no evidence he surrendered or transferred titles to the alleged new owners, who have since placed caveats, halting any transactions.

The report also claims that based on Government records, most or all of the 930 acres are encumbered by loans to financial institutions. But on Friday, Waitiki said he was shocked by the report, denouncing the findings as 'absolute lies'. "The new claims are strange to me as I have never sold any land to anyone," he said. Waitiki maintained that he still holds titles for all the four blocks that make up the 930 acre property but admitted that he sold less than two acres of the vast holdings before the 1997 invasion and later donated a plot to the Catholic Church.

The report, which has reportedly been handed to the President, raises new doubts on what basis the State has claimed to negotiate with Waitiki to buy his land or the sudden emergence of documents the Government and other agencies are now using to dispute Waitiki's claim to the property.