State paid Sh1.2bn for Waitiki land, Kaimenyi says

The owner of the controversial 943-acre land in Likoni Mr Evanson Kamau Waitiki was paid Sh1.2 billion, Land Cabinet Secretary Jacob Kaimenyi has revealed. 

Speaking to the press after touring the Mombasa Land Registry at Uhuru na Kazi building, Mr Kaimenyi said the government bought the controversial land to settle squatters after a long battle with the owner.

Mr Kaimenyi said the government was committed to resolving the squatter problem at the Coast, adding that the Land Amendment Act 2009 addressed historical land injustices and will be implemented to the letter.

He said a special committee had been formed to address the unique land problems in the Coast.

Target of 3 million

Prof Kaimenyi said the Jubilee administration had issued more than 2.5 million title deeds since 2013 and the number will hit three million by end of the year.

A total of 2.5 million titles had been issued between 1963 and 2013, he said.

He dismissed claims by the Opposition that the title deeds were fake and asked holders to ignore the claims and go to banks to acquire loans to develop themselves.

“Am I mad, or could the President be stupid to travel all the way to come and dish out fake title deeds? This is mere propaganda. Let the beneficiaries use them to take loans and develop themselves,” he said.

Even though the Waitiki squatter pay package had been opposed by local leaders, it was a good deal and squatters had taken full advantage of it.

“The land deal for the Waitiki squatters was the best anywhere. Squatters are paying only Sh1,000 per month for 12 years,” he said adding that more than 65 per cent of the squatters had paid and collected their title deeds since last year.

Bargaining chip

He urged local politicians to stop using the Waitiki land as a bargaining chip to get political mileage, especially as the August polls draw closer.

President Uhuru Kenyatta made a personal intervention after a 16-year tussle on the Waitiki farm occupied by more than 1,000 squatters and brokered the landmark deal at State House, Nairobi in November 2015.

The amount paid to Mr Waitiki had remained a secret, with both parties keeping mum.

Earlier, the government was reported to have offered the owner Sh1.1bn although he had demanded Sh9.3 billion.

In a recent exclusive interview with the Nation in Mombasa, Mr Waitiki said he was happy with the deal but again declined to reveal how much he had received.

“I am very happy and stress-free now, although I did not get what I wanted. It is important that you thank God for what you get. In life, you cannot always get everything that you want,” he said at the interview.

Thanking the President for the deal, Mr Waitiki said: “I was also very unhappy and at the same time worried over the thousands of squatters who lived there and feared being evicted any time.

"They too, like myself, did not enjoy peace. But now, I can state that I am very happy”. 

Hot potato

The Waitiki land has been a hot political potato in the area for a decade with Governor Hassan Joho telling squatters not to pay a penny for their plots.

This has been one of the reasons that have intensified differences between him and the President who has maintained that the squatters must pay for the land.

At the registry, Mr Kaimenyi was dissatisfied with the haphazard way that files are arranged, and frequent staff absenteeism.

An average of three staff out of 19 report to work daily, according to the department’s attendance book.

He gave the department 10 days to reorganise the office and report back to him; at the same time directing them to wear official badges, hold monthly staff meetings and give every visitor an identification badge.

Mr Kaimenyi said that as part of the ongoing land reforms in the coast, thousands of irregularly issued title deeds in Lamu County had been revoked after it was realised that huge chunks of land had been grabbed.

The land had reverted to the local community, he said.