Kajiado County defends land rating Act

When Kajiado Governor Joseph ole Lenku led other officials during the launch of county spatial plan on July 21, 2023. [Peterson Githaiga, Standard]

Kajiado land and property under freehold and leasehold title deeds attract annual land rates as per the existing laws, the county government has told the Court.

In a blow-by-blow response to a petition filed against the devolved unit by an NGO and four residents associations, the county government dispelled fears that the land rates it is seeking to collect from small-scale land owners within the county are a new law.

It avers that they are only implementing laws that have been there, one of which (The Kajiado County Rating Act (2016), was enacted by the County Assembly of Kajiado, eight years ago.

The response, which is expected to form a key defence in the petition filed at the Kajiado Environment and Land Court faults the petitioners for giving an impression that public participation was not fully conducted yet, the schedule and report of each public engagement were availed.

The applicants are also opposed to sections of the Kajiado County Finance Act (2023) that slap defaulters in payment of land rates with a 25 per cent penalty, if unpaid at the end of the Financial Year which ends on June 30 every year.

The petitioners lament that such a penalty would cause some landowners to lose their land as some are elderly and are unable to fulfil this obligation.

“The elderly risk having their dignity withdrawn by losing their homes as they are unable to pay Sh2,500. They are beneficiaries of the Inua Jamii programme by the Department of Social Services,” notes the petition spearheaded by activist Shadrack Wambui.

The petition also seeks to protect defaulters from the risk of fines amounting to Sh200,000 or one-year imprisonment.

In a rejoinder, the Government through an affidavit by the County’s CEC Member for Finance and Economic Planning, Alais Kisota, dismissed the petition as ‘propagating falsehoods’.

Kisota said the County Rating Act has been in force since 2016 when it was approved by the then County Assembly.

“It defines a ratable property and excludes property that cannot be subjected to payment of rates. Freehold properties are not among the excluded properties,” says the Government response.

According to him, the act clearly and un-contradictorily provides for the recovery of the unpaid rates arrears including through a court of law.

In April last year, the county government in conjunction with the National Land Commission embarked on issuing title deeds to clear the mess.

In some areas, land disputes have been the order of the day, following double allocation by the defunct Olkejuado County Council.

As a result, for over 40 years, most of the residents have had no land ownership documents.

The Department of Land hired three consultancy firms to carry out the titling process. However, a section of landowners filed a petition and urged the county government to stop the process.

But in October last year, in a move that would see land buyers forced to dig deeper in their pockets to secure a parcel of land, Governor Joseph Ole Lenku launched a new spatial plan that limits land owners from subdividing the usual 50x100 plots.

Speaking during the launch of the 454-page document, Lenku said with the spatial plan in place, his administration will only allow landowners to subdivide their land from 100 x 100 plots to acres.

The process of titling was however suspended after Justice Maxwell Gicheru ordered that the process be halted, pending submission of the plan to the Kajiado County Assembly for public participation.

The court also ruled that monies paid to consultants by plot owners be refunded in less than 60 days.

Justice Gicheru also ordered that after approval by the county assembly, the county should carry out competitive pricing for the parcels.

"The county department of land and county attorney should take responsibility for the survey and titling process," ruled Justice Gicheru.

Councillors would give one person a plot but when they left office, the incoming councillor issued the same plot to another person.

In June this year, Justice Gicheru issued another order giving a green light on the process.

Gicheru ordered three consultant companies hired by the county government to continue with survey and title deed processing for more than 10,000 plots.

The court also ruled that the county government department of land should establish a special registry for the collection of documents and leases.

The court further ordered the county government to open a bank account for the Kajiado town plot owners and the consultants to be mandatory signatories.

It was also directed that a bank account for Embulbul town that was opened in 2016 be retained while other plot owners in other towns will pay directly to the consultants.