Land issues return to haunt poll campaigns

By PATRICK BEJA

Mombasa, Kenya: Amid growing pressure on President Kibaki to gazette the National Land Commission (NLC), the centuries-old land crisis in the Coast is now a major platform for campaigns.

The recent violence blamed on the separatist Mombasa Republican Council, which has called for a poll boycott, had already made land a cause of concern.

However, recent court rulings in Kilifi and Mombasa have heightened anxiety amid revelations by the Coast PPO that 18 court orders have been issued to evict squatters across the province.

In June, a Mombasa court awarded over 3,000 acres of land to the Mazrui family.

And in Mombasa a court has ruled that a 2001 ruling that restored 930 acres of land to the Waitiki family in volatile Likoni estate should be enforced.

This declaration has prompted local MP Mwalimu Masoud Mwahima to declare that the squatters should not be evicted.

CORD and Jubilee alliances have promised to resolve the land matter once elected.

Jubilee leaders have been on the receiving end with accusations from their opponents that they have to return public land. They have, however, denied these claims.

Environment minister and Jubilee’s senate candidate for Kwale County, Chirau Ali Mwakwere, kicked off the land debate in his campaigns on Saturday.

“Even land buyers from Central Kenya were approached by our own past leaders who sold land to them cheaply,” Mwakwere argued.

But patron of the Interfaith Friends of Raila campaign lobby Sheikh Juma Ngao argued yesterday that implementation of the Constitution including the comprehensive land reforms would fix the land problems.

Lamu port

“Historical land injustices at the Coast span over 40 years and five years of the Lands docket under ODM was too short,” Ngao argued.

Taita Taveta County Wiper governor candidate and former deputy Central Bank of Kenya Mrs Jacinta Mwatela says since over 60 per cent of the area was under the Tsavo national parks, it was crucial to resettle squatters on the land they occupy to reduce pressure on the resource

In Lamu County, UDF governor candidate Issa Timamy wants permanent resettlement of squatters who have been in conflict with owners of ranches.

Mr Timamy said he has also been championing for the compensation of squatters in land designated for building the Lamu port.

Land tenure and use in the Tana Delta has been partly blamed for ethnic conflict between Pokomo farmers and Orma pastoralists with some leaders calling for demarcation of the land.