Residents of Kajiado are up in arms over an emerging trend of illegal land subdivision allegedly being fueled by rogue land surveyors who divide land entirely without providing an access road, fueling conflict and creating confusion.
Agitated locals blame the rogue surveyors for creating false mutations in exchange for bribes to frustrate genuine land users.
In an emerging trend, rogue surveyors are now aiding land owners to grab road reserves by facilitating the subdivision of an entire piece of land without leaving any access roads of the subdivided plots.
The trend has been a thorn in the flesh of land owners with the Ministry of Land forced to cancel some false mutations it says have been acquired illegally.
One such case involves land parcel Kajiado/Ntashat 2746 in Kisami whose mutation has been cancelled due to a lack of providing an access road.
In a letter dated January 5, 2022, the Ministry of Land cancelled the parcel mutation directing that the parcel ought to have an access road.
The letter signed by Director of Survey AK Munyaswa stated in part, “Mutation serial number 04226410 registered on 29th June 2020 has been cancelled and another should be prepared exercising the access road from parcel Kajiado Ntashat 2746 to connect to Magadi road,” it states
The Director of Survey’s directions came after a land owner who owns the parcel adjacent to the land launched a complaint to the ministry of lands over a disputed 6-meter road to his property.
In a letter dated December 8, 2021, the land owner complained about the use of his private access road by a neighbour who had subdivided her land without paving way for an access road.
The new trend is now emerging as a thorn in the flesh of land owners besides the rampant land conflict among warring parties.
The conflicts are mainly occasioned by double plot allocation, family disputes, and fake title deeds.
According to the County Executive Committee member in charge of land and physical planning, Hamilton Parseina, land conflicts in the county are mainly fueled by rogue land brokers who sell ‘air’ to potential unsuspecting land buyers.
“Land is an emotive issue that needs to be addressed without being biased and in consideration of all legal and historical parameters. New allotment letters and digitization of our registry have been significant in taming land fraud. We, as a county, are focused to ensure the mandates under the county are conducted diligently to ensure justice for all,” Parseina says.
He urges land buyers to always do due diligence before purchasing a piece of land.
Notably, Land Registry is devolved while survey matters remain under the national government’s Ministry of Lands.
