State to reclaim 900-acre EAPCC land, Korir says

The State will repossess the 900 acres of land belonging to East African Portland Cement Company (EAPCC) being claimed by more than 2,000 squatters.

Lands Principal Secretary Nixon Korir told MPs yesterday that EAPCC has the right to protect the land from being illegally acquired. The said land in question LR 10424 was bought by Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) at a cost of Sh5.2 billion for the development of a bulk container terminal and transhipment facility.

At the same time, Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) compulsorily acquired 3 hectares for a value of Sh327 million. KRC has so far paid Sh4.95 billion for the said land.

Over the last five years, residents have been locked in a vicious court battle with the cement manufacturer over the land. Already the squatters have moved to court to block KRC from taking over the said piece of land.

“It is upon Portlands to defend its land from being invaded by squatters because the ministry cannot protect it from being invaded. If EAPCC notices their land has been invaded they should liaise with the police to reclaim what is theirs,” he said.

While appearing before the Committee of Trade, Industry and Cooperative committee chaired by Embakasi North MP James Gakuya, Korir admitted that there are fake titles that have been processed from the sad land by rogue officers.

He cited a case where a law firm had sought a search for a piece of land in the said area only for them to establish that the said title was fake.

“The EAPCC land is controversial and sensitive considering that up to 40 per cent of the land has been invaded by squatters,” he said. He added: “There are people who know for sure that this is not their land but they are invading it so that they can be considered,” he added.

Further, he claimed that although some of the land-buying companies have claimed that they are paying land rates for parcels of land they owned, he said that this does not mean that the said pieces of land were acquired legally.

“He said that we know that some people have said they own part of Portland lands, but this does not mean we rule out the fact that some of these titles are fake,” he said.

In his submission before the committee, Korir clarified that as of now they have not been able to get any communication from EAPCC or KRC in respect of the sale of the land as the deal is yet to be concluded. Following Korir’s sentiments, representatives from EAPCC said that they would be closing the deal with KRC within the next two weeks.

Parliament early this month summoned Lands Cabinet Secretary Zachary Njeru to provide documents to prove the ownership of 900 acres that the EAPCC)owns. This is after the National Land Commission (NLC) told MPs that the Land PS had failed to respond to a request for documents to ascertain the true ownership of land in Machakos County.

Appearing before the Trade and Industrialisation Committee, NLC chairperson Gershom Otachi said the commission wrote to the Ministry of Lands requiring documentation for LR 10424.

“The NLC sought information from the Ministry of Lands, which is the custodian of documents but has not received a response,” said Otachi.