Del Monte now agrees to resurvey prime land

Del Monte Kenya has beaten an about-turn and now says it is ready for a re-survey of its contested land as Murang’a County and some of it residents push for it to cede acreage.

This is after the National Assembly Lands Committee three weeks ago ordered a new survey be conducted within a month after failure by the line ministry to confirm the total acreage under use.

The Kandara Residents Association had petitioned the National Assembly to have the multinational fruit processing firm surrender all the land for use by locals, claiming it was irregularly acquired.

The company denies the accusation and says it has the relevant documents to prove ownership.

Kiambu County has also been pushing for a share of the land, leading to the signing of a Memorundum of Understanding and ceding of 690 acres last September.

Managing Director Stergios Gkaliamoutsas said he has written to the Director of Survey in the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, Lands Executives in Murang’a and Kiambu counties seeking to hold a joint survey to establish the truth of the matter.

“We are not hiding anything. We would like representatives of the two county governments and the Director of Survey to produce their surveyors so that together with our surveyors, the land is resurveyed,” Mr Gkaliamoutsas said.

The company had earlier objected the re-survey to establish the truth after the association claimed Del Monte controls 9,000 acres of land.

Of the 9000 acres, the Phillip Kamau-led association claimed, 7,400 acres had been surrendered to the national government in 1974 only for the company to re-acquire the property “in mysterious circumstances”.

Mr Gkaliamoutsas who spoke for the first time since the company started facing criticism said they are opposed to the National Land Commission recommendations to set aside a suitable amount of land to be held in trust by the county governments for the purposes of resettlement and public utilities.

Murang’a Governor Mwangi wa Iria has been demanding 3,000 acres to develop a city on the Thika-Kabati highway.

But the MD has objected saying this would interfere with the firm’s main operations.

“The area where leaders want land ceded holds the pipeline for the irrigation water and that’s where we do our main pineapple farming,” he said.