Sakaja to demolish buildings standing on grabbed land
By Kevin CheruiyotPrivate developers who own buildings on land belonging to the Nairobi County government risk losing millions of money invested as the county moves to claim their land.
This follows the agreement reached during the County Executive Committee which was chaired by Governor Johnson Sakaja on Thursday.
The Executive Committee approved the steps towards revocation and cancellation of land titles for parcels that belong to the Nairobi City County Government.
During the meeting, it was agreed that the county through its inspectorate team should move and claim a 15-acre piece of land grabbed in the Mathare sub-county that is proposed for a County Aggregation and Industrial Park (CAIP).
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The land in Mathare was subdivided in 2006 into 37 plots and allottees had processed deed plans and title deeds, which will be revoked as per the Implementation of the CAIP.
Also, the committee agreed that the land on which Nairobi City County Upper Hill Day Nursery School in Lang’ata sub-county stands should be reverted to the county after two title deeds were produced by private entities.
“The nursery school is an operational county facility with over 200 children, and the titles to the private entities were issued when the school was already in operation,” the county executive committee said.
Also, Kimathi Early Childhood Development Education (ECDE) in Embakasi has received a reprieve after the county slammed the private developer who had claimed that the land belonged to him, and even ordered that the school should be demolished to pave the way for the business mall.
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A few months ago, tension was high in Kimathi School after a private developer threatened to demolish the ECDE Centre on account of holding a land title, a move that attracted uproar from the locals and the area MCA.
“The County Executive Committee resolved to invite the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate circumstances under which the public land was grabbed, and titles produced. This is to cancel the titles and take action against those involved in the illegal alienation of public land.”
To end the grabbing of public lands, the executive committee directed that mechanisms should be tabled within 14 days to safeguard public utilities.
Further, Sakaja’s cabinet approved a raft of measures to prevent misappropriation of county public land.
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