Joho’s bold promise after August elections

dennis kibet

June 27, 2017 2:08 PM

"I look after my Mombasa people first then others follow because I am a leader here."

Governor Hassan Joho addresses a rally in Mombasa County.

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho has promised squatters occupying the controversial Waitiki Farm that they will not pay for the land titles once Nasa sweeps into power after the August elections.

Last year, President Uhuru Kenyatta while issuing title deeds to the squatters, said the national government had used money from the Settlement Fund Trustee to buy the 780- acre farm which has to be refunded.

The land was initially 930 acres but the owner Evanson Waitiki had sold 150-acres.

President Kenyatta made a personal intervention after a 16-year tussle on the Waitiki farm occupied by more than 1,000 squatters and brokered the landmark deal at State House, Nairobi in November 2015.

“Let us not play politics and tell the truth which I am going to say here. Jameni, (surely) we must pay this money so that we can assist others with the same problem like yours,” the president said.

However, Joho has now told the Likoni people who live on the land that they will not have to pay the Sh182,000 for the title deeds.

“I will reverse all the bad they have done through a Raila-led government. In Waitiki, I will tell them not to pay from that day. Those who have paid will be refunded," Joho said.

According to The Star, the 11,000 squatters were to pay the amount in three years, from January 2016, in order to get the titles raising the amount to about Sh2 billion.

The Mombasa county government offered to buy the property but the national government prevented the move.

dennis kibet