Trouble brews at Nakuru's Banita Scheme over list of land allottees

Hundreds of settlers from the Banita Settlement Scheme queued up for registration in the Banita area in Rongai constituency on November 19, 2024, following an announcement by Lands PS Nixon Korir that the ministry would issue title deeds to the beneficiaries. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

A land ownership row pitting squatters at the Banita Settlement Scheme in Rongai, Nakuru County, has taken a new twist.

This is after Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Land, Nixon Korir announced the government's plans to issue title deeds to the beneficiaries to allow them utilize the land.

The announcement was followed by a meeting last week at the 14,000-acre land to present ownership documents to the beneficiaries.

Each of the squatters claiming land in the scheme had been asked to stand on the land they claimed as government officials confirmed authenticity of their documents.

This marked a fresh twist in the ownership as new claimants emerged, wanting to occupy the land that had been allocated to other beneficiaries.

Susan Wangui Karanja, one of the residents, said she is yet to come to terms with the events of the day after a youth claiming her land surfaced.

Wangui said she purchased three parcels of land in 2019 having paid Sh3.5 million and has been cultivating and constructing on the land only to learn someone else was claiming it.

“I stood on the land holding the documents and those who were conducting verification were walking around with some youths. When they reached where I was, they asked who the owner of the land was and a youth raised his hand. A committee member said they knew him and not me yet I have been cultivating the land,” she said.

The youth, according to Wangui, only produced his identity card as proof of ownership.

“I don’t know where to head next, there is no justice here,” she said.

Lucia Wanjiru, another squatter, said each of them had been asked to go where their parcels were located only for a group of youths in motorcycles to emerge and ask her to leave.

Wanjiru said a group of youths asked her to leave and her efforts to show them her documents bore not fruits.

Leah Wambui called on the President to intervene and have the issue resolved. She said that allocating the land afresh while there are people who hold documents was a recipe for chaos.

John Njoroge said his father has been displaced from a parcel allocated to him and that someone else had constructed a home on the land.

Lawyer Kipkoech Ng’etich said the government should implement the decision of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Committee which was adopted by the Court as its order.

“The government, through the National Lands Commission has to go by the committee's report and adopted by the court failure to which the beneficiaries will go back to court and have the process stopped,” said Ng’etich.

Disputes over the list of beneficiaries have delayed the issuance of title deeds in the scheme since its establishment in 2002.

The 14,115-acre land was bought by the Settlement Fund Trustee from the Majani Mingi Group of companies. Letters of Offer were prepared after planning and survey of the scheme. However complaints were lodged against the list of beneficiaries on the ground.

In 2005, a case was filed at the High Court and orders were issued stopping the issuance of letters of offer. The case was later resolved through Dispute Resolution Mechanism where 119 individuals were added to the list of beneficiaries.

In 2009, fresh letters of offer were prepared and issued to allottees after re-planning and re-surveying of the scheme. When the process of plot showing was in progress another injunction was issued stopping all the transactions on the land. Another case was filed in 2011 by over 221 individuals. The number increased to 620.

On October 17, 2020, Environment and Lands Court Judge John Mutungi referred the case for resolution through the Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism. An eight-member committee including land officials was formed.

The ADR team made six recommendations in a September 11, 2020 report. The team recommended checking on the ground whether there was any land available as the allocation process was not completed.

The committee also recommended that the process of showing land parcels to the beneficiaries be fast-tracked and that the survey and registration of the scheme be completed to avoid further delays.

The Ministry of Lands agreed to consider waiving interests and penalties accruing on the principal amounts for the beneficiaries.

The report was adopted as an order of the court on July 28, 2021.