Land agency told not to renew 1,000 leases in Mombasa

The land commission has been asked not to renew more than 1,000 expired land leases in Mombasa.

Mombasa County executive for Land, Housing and Planning Francis Thoya said the land should be allocated to squatters or returned to the public.

“We compiled a list of about 1,000 expired leases which we submitted to the National Land Commission (NLC) particularly for the south mainland. We are now compiling a list for the north mainland,” he said at a news briefing in his office.

Mr Thoya was reacting to statements by NLC chairman Muhammad Swazuri, who recently said counties in the coast region had refused to submit lists of expired land leases in their jurisdiction.

“Despite requests on several occasions that counties submit to us all expired leases, none of them have complied,” Dr Swazuri said at an earlier at a press conference.

Quickly resolve

Dr Swazuri read mischief in the refusal to submit the lists, saying it was a deliberate attempt by unscrupulous officers in the counties to sell the land secretly or to grab it.

At the same time, Mr Thoya called on the land commission to quickly resolve the Waitiki Farm dispute in Likoni to stop further illegal transactions.

“After verification, the government should move in quickly and allocate the land to squatters or take any other appropriate step. This is because illegal transactions are going on and in one year, the situation would have taken a different turn altogether,” he said.