The Kisumu International Airport has two different title deeds, exposing the land to the risk of invasion by private developers.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu says in a report tabled in Parliament that the two titles also list different sizes of 206.09 and 362.9 hectares.
It is unclear how the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) that manages the facility ended up with two titles within the same installation that connects travellers to Western Kenya.
“No satisfactory explanation was provided for the duplicated ownership documents,” says Ms Gathungu in the report for the year ended June 2021.
The airport is among the seven airports in Kenya whose land ownership is in dispute.
Other airports and airstrips facing similar hurdles are Wilson Airport with eight titles in contention, Moi International Airport Mombasa (10), Kitale airstrip (two), Eldoret airstrip (13), Malindi Airport (one) and Embakasi (two).
The Public Investments Committee (PIC) cited a piece of land belonging to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), which has 46 title deeds in dispute, saying the failure to secure the land exposes it to illegal users.
The MPs said the National Land Commission (NLC), following its inquiries of titles within the JKIA, recommended revocation of the titles, through a gazette notice dated February 15, 2019.
PIC said the subject parcels of land at Moi International Airport were allocated before the issuance of the KAA’s title and do not form part of the net area measuring 538.76 hectares.
At the Kisumu International Airport, the three irregular allocations did not form part of the Kisumu Municipality Block hived off to create the airport, and were, thus, outside the current airport title.
The committee said the KAA had paid for searches to confirm the registration of the subject parcels at Eldoret Airstrip and was awaiting the outcome.
At the Malindi Airport, PIC said the irregular allocations form part of Malindi Airport’s main title and as such have been included in the financial statements.
