The Ministry of Lands has denied Kenyans access to 7,447 acres of state land held by multinational fruit juice processor, Del Monte.
The Parliament had earlier ordered the Director of Survey to conduct a resurvey on the entire land Del Monte Kenya Limited holds.
The National Land Commission had in a Legal Notice No 1995 dated March 1, 2021, ordered that any excess land be shared between the locals and the two counties on a 70-30 per cent basis.
However, the Lands Cabinet Secretary, Farida Karoney, revealed that there is no excess land as LR No 12203/1/2, whose lease expired in July 2019, was allocated to the Kiambu County.
The Committee on Implementation of House Resolutions has accused the Ministry of usurping the powers of the National Land Commission (NLC) by proposing that the land be given to the County Government of Murang'a instead of residents who had petitioned for allocation of the same.
“The Cabinet Secretary is usurping the powers of the National Land Commission, which is unconstitutional,” the committee chair stated.
The committee met with the Kandara Residents Association to receive their views following the Ministry’s verdict.
The Kandara Residents Association had asked Parliament to instruct the Ministry of Land to allocate the public land under Del Monte.
The committee had earlier demanded to know the circumstances under which the land that was said to have been surrendered by two companies which were later acquired by Del Monte Kenya Limited.
In an earlier submission to the committee NLC chairperson, Gershom Otachi, stated that the parcels of land were originally owned by Chui Estates Limited up to 1973.
He stated that the transfer was executed in 1973 through a memorandum of registration transfer of lands and at a consideration of Ksh2 million, they were transferred to the government of Kenya.
“The Commission, however, taking note of the passage of time and parties involved in the transaction could not unearth further details that necessitated the transfer nor amalgamation of the said parcels of land,” Otachi told the committee.
The two companies had in 1973 surrendered LR No 12158 measuring 2,900 acres in Murang’a County that is registered in the name of Del Monte Kenya.
