Reprieve for Kajiado land owners as court allows land titling to go on

The Consultants Surveyors at Kajiado County Towns working to ensure titling process is successful. [Peterson Githaiga, Standard]

Legitimate land owners in Kajiado town who have been waiting for two decades to process their title deeds can now breathe easy after a court gave the green light.

The Kajiado Environment and Land Court has ordered three consultant companies hired by the county government to continue with survey and title deed processing for more than 10,000 plots.

On Wednesday, Justice Maxwell Gicheru ruled the process to continue, with disputed plots not included in the process.

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.

Kajiado Lands Executive Hamilton Parseina welcomed the decision saying it was a major relief to legitimate plot owners.

"We are happy with both the consensus arrived at by all the parties concerned and the court ruling which gave a green light for the county government to continue with the process of titling," said Mr Parseina.

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.

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

The consultancy firms have now been tasked to complete the process through a memorandum of understanding.