For more than seven years, the family of Mr Shali Vavo, a resident of Mokowe in Lamu County, was forced to fight in court for the right to occupy their ancestral land.
Mr Vavo says over six acres of their ancestral land at Mokowe had been grabbed by a tycoon who had colluded with local national government administrators.
The family, which won the case last month, had alleged in court that the chief had approved the wrong documents.
So rooted in the issue that it has grabbed the attention of top government officials. Many residents have decried losing their unoccupied ancestral land to grabbers over the years.
Although land grabbing and the squatter menace have been a major issue troubling the region for decades, it has heightened since Lamu started receiving major infrastructural development projects from the national government.
Most of these projects are under the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor Program (Lapsset).
Apart from the port, other infrastructure geared for development include highways and an oil pipeline.
During a recent security assessment tour in Lamu County, the Coast Regional Commissioner Ms Rhoda Onyancha issued a stern warning to chiefs, their assistants, and police in Lamu to desist from involving themselves in matters of land ownership.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen speaks during the Jukwaa La Usalama Pwani Edition tour in Mokowe, Lamu, on April 10, 2025. CS Murkomen and RC Onyancha warned chiefs, their assistants, local administrators, police officers, and Lands Ministry officials against abetting land grabbing in Lamu and the wider Coast region.
Photo credit: Kalume Kazungu | Nation Media Group
Ms Onyancha cited the habit of chiefs, their assistants, village elders, and Nyumba Kumi officials involving themselves in land issues as something that has always amplified conflicts, insecurity, and unrest.
“As we deal with insecurity issues caused by external forces like Al-Shabaab, we won’t forget the fact that we have internal issues like land grabbing, squatters, and other related squabbles. I want to warn the chiefs and their assistants here to avoid participating in land matters.
Doing so amplifies already existing conflicts or even creates new ones, hence, destroying the current peace and security stability we’ve worked so hard for in Lamu,” said Ms Onyancha.
Similar sentiments had earlier been made by the Cabinet Secretary for Interior Kipchumba Murkomen while visiting Lamu County during the Jukwaa La Usalama public sessions.
“People should stop encroaching on private lands and ranches in this place. We even have scenarios where government officers, particularly chiefs, rent squatters on private lands. Once the government gets court orders and wants to implement them, you find it’s difficult to evict 500, 1,000, or even 2,000 squatters found in that place, most of which are just fake,” said CS Murkomen.
He added, “Investigations on such chiefs and public servants are on. We want their reports to be fast-tracked and sent to the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP). Once investigations are done, we shall recommend to the Public Service Commission (PSC) to have their employment terminated.”
The Nation has established that many chiefs and their assistants in Lamu County have been colluding with wealthy cartels and tycoons to grab land and fast-track their illegal acquisition.
In such situations, the chiefs go to the extent of ‘leasing or renting squatters’ where they plan with fake squatters to encroach on both public and private lands to secure those parcels of land for their lords in coming years.
Mr Ben Ojuok, a community and land rights activist in Lamu, said such behaviours by the local administrators have left many residents suffering helplessly due to landlessness.
Mr Ojuok expressed disappointment that the level of confidence and authority placed in the chiefs and their assistants has continued to be misused by selfish individuals, leaving the public at a crossroads.
According to him, chiefs have always been at the centre stage on matters of land ownership despite the fact that the constitution gives them none or very limited and specific functions on the same.
The Kenya Constitution, particularly Articles 62 and 66, outlines the broad powers of the state concerning land, but it does not explicitly detail the specific functions of chiefs on land matters.
Chiefs primarily function as local administrators, where they are supposed to maintain order and ensure peace in their areas of jurisdiction.
However, chiefs may be delegated land-related functions by the county government, such as assisting in land demarcation, resolving minor land disputes, or ensuring compliance with regulations.
These local administrators are often working in cohorts with unscrupulous village elders, Nyumba Kumi officials, and a few community members that they secretly identify and recruit to form local lands committees that the chiefs have full influence over and control.
Mr Ojuok said it is through such suspicious local lands committees formed that the local administrators directly or indirectly sell huge chunks of land to tycoons and other cartels from other parts of the country, leaving the genuine local residents landless.
“The behaviour of chiefs needs to be tamed. Land grabbing won’t end now that our local administrators are turning out to be the gatekeepers or enablers of such vices. They collude with tycoons and facilitate illegal large-scale land acquisitions, including those taken by investors here,” said Mr Ojuok.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen speaks with Coast Regional Commissioner Rhoda Onyancha during the Jukwaa La Usalama Pwani Edition tour in Mokowe, Lamu, on April 10, 2025. CS Murkomen and RC Onyancha warned chiefs, their assistants, local administrators, police officers, and Lands Ministry officials against abetting land grabbing in Lamu and the wider Coast region.
Photo credit: Kalume Kazungu | Nation Media Group
Retired Senior Chief for Hongwe Location, Isaac Mkalimani, said it is unfortunate that chiefs can at times leverage their influence within communities to bypass formal land tenure systems and benefit from land deals.
Mr Mkalimani says such actions involve chiefs and their assistants acting as negotiators where they receive compensation for land or even directly participating in the land acquisition process.
The retired administrator told off the chiefs to desist from such behaviours, noting that they always tarnish their image and general integrity.
“Chiefs are not supposed to participate in land issues unless a need like conflict arises. When it reaches that point, then you can facilitate the two parties by recommending them to solve the matter in court. Those chiefs going to the contrary on matters of land are doing it out of ignorance or just pure greed,” said Mr Mkalimani.
Ms Tabitha Mwangi, a retired village elder who is currently serving as Nyumba Kumi official in Hindi, revealed that many times tycoons from outside Lamu have shown up to entice local chiefs and their assistants, village heads, and even the Nyumba Kumi officials with cash.
Ms Mwangi said the wealthy individuals always show up with heavy envelopes or tokens counting to tens or hundreds of thousands of shillings.
“You connive with the tycoons or fraudsters to falsify documents just to secure title deeds for the land you know very well that the individuals in question aren’t supposed to own.
You’re even ready to rob an innocent Kenyan, maybe an orphan or widow, of their precious land. Many of the retired local administrators have ended up getting haunted by such actions even at old age. People should stop,” said Ms Mwangi.
Retired Senior Chief for the Kiunga Location on the Kenya-Somalia border, Mohamed Atik, challenged the government to train and empower the current crop of young chiefs, their assistants, and other local administrators getting recruited to the system in recent years.
Mr Atik noted that years back, chiefs had a say on matters of land but such duties were scrapped when the devolved system of governance came into place.
He said many of the young and inexperienced chiefs have ended up involving themselves in land issues and other duties that are not mandated just because of the lack of knowledge.
“We might be blaming those chiefs, especially the young and inexperienced ones, but the truth is that many do it since they aren’t aware of their work boundaries. They think that once employed as chiefs, they become the generals to partake in everything.
“They really need training and sensitisation. There’s a lot of confusion in the current administration systems. What we used to do then, including directly dealing with land matters, isn’t allowed today,” said Mr Atik.
Some of the areas of Lamu cited as notorious for land-related problems are Juhudi, Salama, Pandanguo, Witu, Mkunumbi, Baharini, Mpeketoni, Hindi, Kwasasi, Magogoni, Kililana, Mashunduani, Mokowe, Manda-Maweni, and surrounding areas.
