NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 3 – The government on Thursday demolished property worth millions of shillings which was built on a land belonging to the Kenya Veterinary Vaccine Production Institute (KEVEVAPI).
Livestock Minister Mohammed Kuti however said the government would consider asking for compensation on the current market rate of the parcels of land that could not be reclaimed.
“Most of it may have been acquired in a very cheap way where the government and – in particular KEVEVAPI- has lost and we must find a way that they be compensated or they reclaim the land,” the Minister said.
“But as that goes on we want to ensure that the 29 hectares found intact which is now being encroached onto is fenced off.”
Mr Kuti revealed that over 60 percent of the 93 hectares land had been grabbed by individuals who hold fake title deeds.
The Minister said plans were underway to renovate the institute to a state-of –the -art facility and make it competitive with those in the region. He said Sh100 million was available to upgrade but that another budget would be prepared to make it state-of-the-art.
“This facility has remained alive because of the demand for vaccines from this institute but it has received little support from the government,” he said.
The area Member of Parliament Dick Wathika who was the Nairobi Mayor at the time of the alleged grabbing said the City Council was not aware of the encroachment.
“If they (grabbers) went to the city council for approval, the building plans would not have been approved,” he said.
Mr Wathika said the construction went on unscheduled because some people “were sleeping on the job.”
“That is the dilemma we are in that houses are coming up, they don’t have the documents but we have in our possession a fake title deed of one parcel,” the Makadara MP said.
He said the private developers were “just grabbers of public land and because they had identified a vacuum they went ahead. Now we are smoking the air out and the owners are the air.”
The Member of Parliament claimed grabbing of the land started about seven years ago.
About The Author
