COUNTY REGISTRAR MOVES TO SOLVE DISPUTE BETWEEN MALABA LAND OWNERS AND KENYA RAILWAYS
Busia County Land Registrar, Wilfred Nyaberi made a tour of Malaba to address land boundary disputes between Malaba Land owners and the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC).
The residents led by businessman and Member of Parliament Aspirant for Teso North, Fred Papa, had moved to the Land Registrar after the Corporation started fencing its expanse land estimated at over 100 acres for the construction of a Dry Port that will change the economic status of the border town.
Addressing the press after the exercise, Mr Nyaberi said they made a tour of the entire land together with officers and surveyors from Kenya Railways and Malaba land owners.
” KRC showed us their boundary the same as the land owners. We shall analyse the data and come up with relevant maps before we convene another meeting that will fix the boundaries issue once and for all,” he said.
Rev Anthony Opacha of the International Baptist Outreach Missions (IBOM) Malaba said the latest KRC survey may see three-quarters of the Church buildings that are on a one-acre peace of land brought down to create Busia road exit for the corporation, insisting that the land duly belongs to the church after purchasing it from an area resident.
“We have invested all our life. We have been here for over 15 years and actions to the contrary will be tantamount to returning the church back 15 years,” he said, adding that the church has not encroached on KRC land.
Rev Peter Gikonyo of the Appostolic Church told the Land Registrar of their predicament that may see the church lose two plots to KRC if no immediate intervention was instituted.
Mr Nyaberi said the two churches have shown them prove of ownership of the portions of land, noting that they will analyse data taken for both the corporation and land owners before the final demarcation.
Activists representing Bungoma-based Citizen for Governance urged Kenya Railways to address the concerns of the residents prudently and compensate those whose payments had not been settled at the current market rates.
Philip Wanyonyi Wekesa and Lumumba Wekesa said while the construction of a Dry Port is a noble idea, KRC should ensure compensation of affected persons was given top priority like was the case with Standard Guage Railway and Naivasha Dry Port.
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