A tycoon claiming ownership of a prime land within Malindi town has threatened to evict more than 20,000 squatters from Sea Breeze area. – By Ramadhan Kambi.
The riddle of it all is that the residents claim to have lived at the sea breeze area for over 40 years as squatters, but a few years ago a tycoon came out and begun claiming ownership of the 23.6-acre parcel of land which is all occupied.
That prompted them to lodge a complaint to the Directorate of criminal investigations (DCI) headquarters in Nairobi but to date, the file is still stuck there.
One of the squatters Kusway Mohamed Musa who lives at plot 547 Sea Breeze said at first the DCI headquarters referred them to the Kilifi County criminal investigations Officer to handle the case but surprisingly the file was forwarded back to Nairobi instead of it being taken to courts for prosecution to begin.
He said he has lived at the land for over 25 years and the constitution clearly stipulates that once a person lives in an area for 12 years, they are supposed to be legal owners.
“Investigations were done and complete but we later heard that the file was taken back to Nairobi, I pray through the leadership of the county, that the file which was ready after investigations were done to be brought to Kilifi CCIO, who would forward it to the DPP Malindi for prosecution to begin for us to get justice,” he said.
He said the disputed land has 540 households adding that all of them have lived there for over 25 years with others who came before having stayed there for over 40 years.
Musa said the tycoon is a conman and is falsely claiming ownership of the land as they have evidence to prove the land does not belong to him.
“We have all the documents to prove that this land does not belong to him, many documents are in the file which was taken back to Nairobi, “he said.
He said so many people are suffering and the tycoon has begun taking money from 10 houses charging Sh300,000 for a small house while a bigger one is charged Sh600,000.
Mr Musa said the dispute begun in 2018 and most of the squatters are poor and cannot afford the costs of seeking justice.
Another squatter Said Ibrahim Omar said they did several searches in Mombasa and Nairobi offices and have proof that the parcel of land does not belong to the tycoon who claims ownership.
The documents he said proved that the real owner of the land is Abdalla Bin Juma and not the tycoon adding that the land is still intact and has not been subdivided.
“We appeal to the government to do advance possession for the squatters that they get legal ownership documents and live peacefully without any form of harassment,” he said.
Mr Abbas Mohamed Said from Sea breeze area said the tycoon has not justified that the land belongs to him.
“We have gone to Mombasa and Nairobi and have not seen his name appearing in all the land documents but we wonder why we are not able to get justice we urge the national government and authorities to intervene and resolve the matter,” he said.
One of the letters dated February 25 2020 from, the DCI headquarters and signed by Luka Kiptoo directed the Kilifi county CCIO to investigate illegal subdivisions of the parcel of land report the outcome to the director.
Another later dated May 22 2020 Edwin Kamau the then Kilifi county CCIO written to Michira Messa and company advocates instructed him to tell his client -Musa to get in touch with his office for investigations to begin.
The ministry of Lands survey department also distanced themselves from allegations that the land had been surveyed by their officers in a letter dated February 17 2021 and could not tell the person who did the survey.
