Dispute ends as Nyakinywa hands over 27 public land title deeds to State
A longstanding tussle between Nyakinywa Land Investment and residents of Mugutha village in Juja, Kiambu County has ended after the company surrendered to the government legal documents for all the public land in the area.
The company has been embroiled in a long bubbling dispute with residents from the expansive village over a reported scheme to subdivide property marked as open spaces.
In June, residents held major protests over alleged subdivision of property, marked as block 5389, 5390, 5391and 5395 situated in the village.
They had earlier cited that the said undeveloped land is already in use by locals as social areas, children playground; worship centers while others had been set for construction of police posts and other recreational facilities.
They had accused the company of conniving to subdivide the appreciated land and later sell to non members to make a kill at the expense of their social needs.
But the company on Wednesday afternoon surrendered to the Ministry of Lands, 27 title deeds for land distributed to various parts of the village solving the long-lasting row.
The company chairperson Nduta Ndirangu who led other officials in handing over the documents to Kiambu County Commissioner Wilson Wanyanga said that the land had been given to poor women by first President Jomo Kenyatta.
She regretted that newcomers at the now prime land have been dictating the kind of structures to be put up saying that most of the land owners cannot afford them owing to their poverty.
Instead of harassing poor land owners, bold Nduta called on wealthy persons owning parcels in the area to sell them or construct apartments for commercial purposes.
“Build storey buildings, rent them and vacate for other areas if you cannot stay with the poor. We will not allow anyone to dictate on us the kind of buildings we should put up,” she said.
Area MCA John Wokabi Ng'ang'a further cited that wealthy developers have been blocking public roads with schemes to make the village a gated community, a move he vowed to fight to the end.
His sentiments were echoed by angry, meagre residents led by Veronica Wangari who decried that well-off developers have been harassing them, dictating on them the design and development structures that they should put up.
On his part, Wanyanga who received the documents on behalf of the Ministry of Lands said that while many land buying and selling companies’ scheme and execute demarcation and resale of public utilities, the company opted to surrender the documents to the government for good public use.
The documents, he said, will aid in development of the land as most donors have been demanding them before injecting their monies to any project.
“No donor can give you money unless they see the title deed of the area you intend to put up a project. We thank Nyakinywa for surrendering the documents that will now see development of the parcels,” he said.
