A combination of retrogressive cultural practices, ignorance and corruption is leaving land owners in Murang’a County dispossessed of their property.
For the past 20 years, Murang'a's economy has been losing billions of shillings to fraudulent property dealings — the worst-hit being widows, illiterate residents and greedy property sellers out to pocket a quick buck.
And the cartel behind the losses is a union of government officers and crooks — who include politicians, lawyers and brokers.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, in his Mashujaa Day speech in Kirinyaga County, said “most of the fraudulent land deals that we have been experiencing in this country have been deliberate acts to safeguard corruption”, appearing to indirectly acknowledge what has been happening in Murang’a.
As a result, many families have been dispossessed of their property, vulnerable property owners murdered so that ownership can be altered and others going through the tedious and costly court cases as cartels seek to rob them off their property.
These revelations came out of the ongoing multi-agency brainstorming on how to reverse the mess, tame cartels and give the property market in the county some sanity.
The meetings are being held in Kandara, Kangema and Murang’a East, three of Murang’a’s nine sub-counties.
Governor Mwangi wa Iria said the loss in billions occurs when families spend resources in court cases, lost credit opportunities, unutilised properties and outright direct loss when the criminal acts disinherit residents.
The stakeholders’ forum brought together the Office of the President, the county government and the Law Society of Kenya, with Mt Kenya University offering logistical support.
In Kandara, area residents poured their hearts out on the hell they went through battling schemes to dispossess them.
“I sold 20 acres of my land to a female politician in Samar, Maragua. She paid a 50 percent down payment but for the next two years, she would not pay the rest. The total she was supposed to pay me was Sh33 million. She paid Sh17 million,” said Mr James Irungu, 65.
The politician only responded by threatening to call a press conference and declare her a thief, as well as provide details of the defaulted deal.
Another landowner from Kiria-ini in Mathioya sub-county submitted that a senior politician, in an attempt to grab his prime land to build a hotel, raided it with government tractors.
“The politician was taking over my land by force and without any form of procedure to lead to a consensual exchange. He just raided my farm and started developing it,” the landowner said.
“I brought in my tractors and destroyed the trenches he had established as demarcation beacons. We are in court today and he has threatened to show me who calls the shots in the area.”
Meetings 'joined by the thieves'
He added that most forums aimed at searching for a solution flop because “in our meetings we are joined by the thieves too”.
It has been revealed that the area land registry is full of cartels that make a killing from taking advantage of the robust property market.
“Law firms that deal with land matters should have their staff clearly identified to distinguish them from freelancers. We should not have idlers around the registry,” said James Waruinu, an investor.
“The allegations that officers from Nairobi have been dispatched to come and give the criminal network some officialdom should also be investigated.”
He said that he had personally encountered an officer who commutes from Kajiado and another from Kitengela and they are representatives of the high and mighty in Nairobi with an interest in land that can be grabbed in Murang’a County.
Many residents submitted to the forum that they went to land boards that have the Office of the President as the superintending authority.
“After we register the deals and have them approved by the boards, some assistant county commissioners and deputy county commissioners refuse to sign and submit the consents to the new owners. They use the consents as cash cows, where they demand 20 per cent of the total worth of the transactions,” said Eliud Mbugua.
Mr John Irungu, from Kamuiru village in Murang’a South, told the forum that the Kenya Rural Roads Authority, on the orders of the area MP and administrators, cut a road through their public land and only got a reprieve when Nation.Africa intervened, highlighted their case and caught the attention of the President, who ordered the injustice reversed.
Many residents complained that they had visited the Murang’a and Nairobi registries so as to get information about their land but encountered hurdles strategically placed by cartels.
And Mr Stephen Mwaniki, from Kihiu Mwiri in Gatanga, disclosed that government officials and crooks had teamed up with senior politicians in the county to steal land from the area, in the process leaving a trail of high-profile bloodshed.
“Once again, it took the intervention of the President, who ordered that we be issued with title deeds so as to eradicate the vulnerability of the poor villagers who were being dispossessed without any form of shame, since impunity was the modus operandi,” he said.
The Office of the President was accused of abetting dispossession by refusing to write honest succession letters, refusing to clear consents and teaming up with cartels to murder or launch court cases aiming at stealing property.
The office was said to favour big fish with corrupt schemes in the property market
“Yes, we have been accused of withholding consent forms…Sometimes we do this as we investigate the authenticity of the deals,” he said.
“We cannot just be appending our signatures in a lackadaisical manner on the deal papers, because once they backfire, we are tasked individually as the final authority. No officer is willing to go to jail so as to make property dealers happy.”
He cited a case where, on June 6, 2020, an assistant county commissioner was arrested in Maragua on allegations of abetting land fraud.
“That is one isolated incident that gave us a very bad name…But we are trying our level best to project the image of the government as that of considerate care, sensitivity and ultimate help in seeking openness in all property deals,” he said.
Governor Wa Iria said he will establish an alternative dispute resolution programme in the property sector to respond to the needs of the vulnerable.
“I will establish a department that will act as a property dispute tribunal. With the help of the legal fraternity and the Judiciary, we can be up and about by December,” he said.
He said he will also work with professional surveyors, who will ensure all dealings in public utility plots are stopped for good.
“We have investors who are holding on to titles belonging to the public. We have others battling it out in courts after they were sold air. Those are the loopholes we have to seal,” he said.
He noted that people fight and kill each other over land while those from poor families are exploited by the rich.
Murang'a County Commissioner Fred Ndunga said ignorance has subjected many families to years of agony in land deals, faulting chiefs for complicity.
“Chiefs are employed in their home areas to help them solve issues facing families that they have grown up with and are familiar with. When a chief deliberately alters succession authorities to corrupt the process of inheritance, it is not only criminal but also immoral,” he said.
