Counties

Swazuri exposes cartels of ‘professional squatters’

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NLC Chairman Muhammad Swazuri. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The National Land Commission (NLC) chairman Muhammad Swazuri has exposed land grabbing cartels operating mainly at Eastlands in Nairobi County.

Prof Swazuri has revealed that the cartels operating under Sowe Sava Self Help Group and Savanna Jua Kali Association have been circulating fake and fraudulent determinations purportedly issued by the land commission.

The cartels target prime undeveloped lands by presenting themselves as squatters who need to be settled by the commission. This way, they grab the land from genuine owners, the investigations reveal.

The cartels mobilise ‘professional squatters’ to invade and encroach on private land, and claim it is their ancestral property, Mr Swazuri says.

The most recent of such cases in Nairobi was the ownership tussle pitting Uchumi Supermarkets #ticker:UCHM against a group of squatters over an undeveloped land opposite Kasarani Sports Complex.

After an expensive and long drawn-out litigation, the case was recently determined in favour of the supermarket, with the so-called squatters dismissed as imposters.

READ: Uchumi wins Sh2.3bn Nairobi land case

Prof Swazuri in his letter dated 27 February 2018 has enclosed the internal report of the director of investigations at NLC dated 23 February 2018, indicating the extent of the fraudulent activities.

The report says the cartels have penetrated the commission and have been issuing fake determinations, for instance in the case over Nairobi/Block/82/7813-7855 in Donholm estate.

“The purported determination is a forgery and cannot be attested to by the Commission,” the report notes.

Self-help groups are legally not meant to own land.

As per the letter to the Chairman of the NLC the police are investigating the illegal activities of the group.