Some residents of Kwale County have handed back title deeds issued by the government, Nairobi Wire reported. They cite errors in the documents and question how officials allocated the land. The Daily Nation also reported that President William Ruto's Coast land reform drive has run into allocation disputes.
According to Nairobi Wire, residents say some certificates require holders to pay more fees before the titles are complete. They say officials told them during the issuance exercise that all charges had been paid. Lungalunga resident John Kassim said the titles "appear invalid" to them, so they are surrendering them.
Other residents told the outlet that commercial banks rejected the documents when they tried to use them to secure loans. The banks reportedly questioned the titles' validity and value. Resident Moses Makelele said they had "lost hope" in the titles because they cannot use them to get loans.
Residents also say some plots are smaller than the land they had occupied and expected to own. They allege that authorities gave some properties to several households as the population grew. This left some original landowners without titles. Weeks earlier, another group of Kwale residents rejected titles issued under the government's settlement programme. They said some beneficiaries got plots of 50 by 100. Those beneficiaries had occupied and farmed much larger ancestral parcels.
Ruto issued more than 94,000 title deeds in Kwale County in October. More than 26,000 of them went to residents of Lunga Lunga Constituency. At the event, Ruto said the government aimed to issue 500,000 title deeds across the Coast by the end of 2026.
The residents want the President to cancel the disputed certificates. They also want him to return to the area and oversee the issuance of corrected titles. The sources do not include a response from the government.