Nyandarua Land Registrar says move to give him transfer is politically motivated

The Nyandarua Land Registrar Charles Ayienda has said he is under siege from land brokers who are using politicians to push for his transfer.

He claims the brokers want him transferred so that they can resume exploiting innocent landowners.

Ayienda explains that when he arrived in Nyahururu four years ago he embarked on streamlining operations at the registry by locking out the brokers whom he says used to exploit people seeking services.

“The brokers have regrouped and changed modus operandi with some opening offices in town where they are fleecing innocent people by claiming to offer land conveyance services,” he said.

Giving an example, he says, for instance, one broker was found with blank green cards and blank title deeds in her car while another took Ksh7,000 from a person for registration of a green card that normally costs Ksh500. He said police are handling both cases.

He said the brokers are being supported by “leaders who don’t have full information on their intentions.”

He spoke to the press a few days after he came under scathing criticism from the Nyandarua senator John Methu and Mirangine MCA John Mathu during Mashujaa Day fete for allegedly frustrating people seeking services at the lands office situated in Nyahururu, Laikipia County.

The leaders accused Ayienda of being a stumbling block to land transactions in the county.

Methu alleged the Lands Registrar has been using the name of the outgoing Interior CS Fred Matiang’i to threaten people but Ayienda said he has never met Matiang’i in person.

“I have no relationship with Matiang’i and I only see him on (television) screens,” he told the press.

On his part, the Senator said:“I want to see this person called Ayienda who many people are complaining about. I tell him before God that I will not sit and watch as he frustrates the Nyandarua people.”

“Either he serves people or leaves the County. The people I have met, including the elderly, have been complaining about him.”

Methu’s statement was in support of similar sentiments expressed by the Mirangine MCA.

The leaders demanded that the land registry be moved from Nyahururu town in Laikipia County to Ol Kalou town, the Nyandarua County headquarters.

Ayienda agreed with the leaders that the land registry should be moved to Ol Kalou as soon as possible “where it will be more secure and movement in and out of the compound controlled.”

Nyandarua County Commissioner, Amos Mariba, defended the officer saying he had done a lot to reform land matters in the County.

Mariba said brokers and fake surveyors are to blame for problems at the Land Registry in Nyahururu.

“There are people who claim to be surveyors but are fake surveyors and are among those complaining about Ayienda,” the County Commissioner said.

He said efforts to have the registry moved to Ol Kalou had been hampered by the failure of the contractor to hand over the new Ol Kalou registry building to the government “because he has not been paid.”