Governor Waiguru pledges to reclaim South Ngariama land from land grabbers

Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru has pledged to support over 8,000 families of South Ngariama to reclaim their grabbed land. The Kirinyaga Governor promised to secure title deeds and urged them to ignore lies being peddled about an intended collusion between the County Executive and the County Assembly concerning the South Ngariama land titling process. “It is unfortunate that these people are trying to jeopardize the issuance of the titles thus leaving many residents and rightful owners of Kirinyaga exposed with no recourse for the injustice,” Governor Waiguru said. “We are committed and determined to ensure that we secure title deeds for the rightful 8,200 families and reclaim the public land that has been grabbed and we will stop at nothing to ensure that it is done,” she added.

The 17,000 acres land in question was formally vested into trusteeship of the defunct Kirinyaga County Council in 1965 on behalf of the people of Kirinyaga. Through a court order in 2006, the defunct County Council was placed as the legally appropriate entity to initiate adjudication process of the land which was later earmarked for demarcation and allocation to the residents of Kirinyaga. The defunct local authority later sourced a surveyor to subdivide the land according to land for public utility, wetland including riparian and the rest to the rightful private owners.

Governor Waiguru noted that if the titling process is started again, the current rate of contract would be at least Ksh 300 million. “It is the role of the County Assembly to approve allocation of various development expenditures with due consideration of the best interests of the residents they serve,” she said.

The Governor said that the failure by the defunct County Council and the previous regime to pay the contractor the rightful amount resulted in grabbing of the land by powerful individuals within and outside Kirinyaga.

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