President William Ruto has expressed his commitment to fully addressing the historical land injustices in the coastal region and ensuring that all squatters are resettled.
Ruto said his administration, in line with the pre-election pledge, has made necessary arrangements to buy the lands from absentee landlords and resettle the squatters, hence ending the longstanding problem.
He regretted that many of the squatters in the region have for many years been denied the socio-economic benefits of land ownership.
Ruto, however, issued a stern warning to some individuals he said have started invading the lands in a bid to benefit from the programme.
“There are conmen and cartels, when they heard we are going to pay absentee landlords for those living there, they have started invading the lands,” he said.
“We are not going to allow anyone to invade lands belonging to other people.”
According to the president, the government already has a priority list of absentee landlords where the squatters will be resettled.
Speaking in Kwale, the Head of State directed the Ministries of Interior and Lands to work together and ensure law and order is maintained and that only legitimate squatters benefit.
“No Kenyan is allowed to appropriate the property of others. The police and provincial administration should ensure that they protect the property that is private and public and nobody should invade anyone’s farm because that is unconstitutional,” he stated.
“That is not the problem we are trying to solve. We are trying to solve the absentee landlord problem for those people who are squatters those pieces of land.”
During the event, Ruto presided over the issuance of 6, 200 land titles in the county.
Speaking in Mombasa Monday, Ruto announced that the government has set aside Sh1.5 billion to buy the lands to re-settle squatters in the coastal region.
Ruto who is on a week-long development tour of the coastal region is accompanied by his deputy Kithure Kindiki among the Cabinet Secretaries and leaders from the region.
