Nairobi Senator Gideon Mbuvi has opened a new battlefront against illegal plot owners in the city saying land grabbers should brace for “bruising” court battles.
Mr Mbuvi said the move is part of efforts to actualise his pre-election pledge to reclaim public land irregularly allocated to developers.
He said space meant for expansion of hospitals, schools, fire stations in the city had been irregularly given to private individuals through underhand deals at City Hall.
The Senator said he had forwarded a blacklist to Lands Cabinet Secretary Charity Ngilu, Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero and the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) for further action.
Mr Mbuvi said that he would be moving to court to secure injunctions against “all grabbed public that was meant to create room for development projects”.
He told the press that some councillors had grabbed tracts of land meant for public use in Nairobi.
“If you know you bought a plot through the back door, be sure we are coming for it and we will not spare anyone,” he said.
The Senator said he will be working closely with like minded individuals to reclaim the plots.
He said Nairobi was the hardest hit by land grabbers where room for development of public utilities and other amenities had been “sacrificed at the altar of personal greed”.
“Grabbing of plots and sale by the council has remained the order of the day because no one was questioning it but now the county government is here and we will reclaim all what belongs to the public,” he said.
Mr Mbuvi said he was aware he was opening a “tricky” battlefront against land grabbers but vowed to push ahead.
“A title of a five-acre plot that had been allocated to a private developer belonging to Kamukunji Secondary School has been revoked. I am aware there are markets and hospitals in this city that are today owned illegally by individuals and I am going to court over these matters,” he said.
“When we were campaigning we promised Nairobians that we were going to repossesses all public utilities that had been grabbed. I received a letter last month from the principal complaining that their land had been leased to a private company,” he told a press conference at his office in Nairobi Thursday.
He said school playgrounds had not been spared.
“I wrote to the Cabinet Secretary of Lands to resolve these matters urgently. I have also written to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to commence immediate investigations on how these leases were acquired.”
“A school must have a playground. We are in the process of repossessing all gabbed public lands,” he said.
Source-nation.co.ke
