Athi River deputy county commissioner Albert Kimathi has said land issues are major causes of insecurity in the region.
Addressing the press at his office in Athi River town on Tuesday, Mr Kimathi said he will not seat back and watch people fight over land some of which they do not own thereby causing tension and animosity in the entire sub county.
“Land issues are the major causes of insecurity in Athi River Sub County, I know the issues of land here are complex but we cannot sit back and watch as the wrangling groups fight,” said Kimathi.
“Goons are getting into both private and public land across the sub county, we will arrest and prosecute them according to the law,” said he.
Kimathi said the land grabbing is rampant in Athi River town and Kamulu area, he mentioned the controversial East African Portland Cement land and Dramvel land in the towns respectively as some of those invaded by grabbers in the sub county.
“The situation is more serious in Kamulu, people are grabbing individuals’ parcels of land with title deeds and selling them out to unsuspecting buyers,” said Kimathi.
Kimathi said as the chairman of area security committee, he had realized that there would be more chaos if they did not forcibly get into the issue.
“Together with other members of the sub county security committee, we this morning met leaderships of 30 groups dealing in land across Athi River Sub County following the conflict on the Portland Cement land in Athi River town,” said Kimathi.
“As officials charged with the responsibility to manage security in the area, we have come to realize that the situation would get out of hand if we do not intervene into the matter urgently,” said Kimathi.
Kimathi said he had ordered all those claiming ownership of land in any of the disputed parcels of land in the sub county to present to the security committee the legal documents to prove ownership by Friday this week.
“There are genuine land owners with original documents to prove their ownerships while others are goons, all these people will come to know the truth once their papers are verified by the committee,” said Kimathi.
He said only genuine owners of the land would be protected as those found trading on land unscrupulously dealt with accordingly.
Kimathi said the committee will however not interfere with land issues in court since it would amount to contempt of court.
“Those who will not submit their documents by Friday as agreed will have nothing to claim,” said Kimathi.