Wahome proposes tougher measures against land cartels to tackle title deed fraud

Lands Cabinet Secretary nominee Alice Wahome has outlined various strategies to combat pervasive land grabbing in the country.

Appearing before the Committee on Appointments on Thursday, Wahome stressed that revising certain sections of the Land Act is crucial for implementing stringent actions against land cartels.

Wahome said the cartels have reached a point where they don’t respect title deeds, which are supposed to be definitive proof of land ownership.

She decried that many times, several officers in the Ministry have been in numerous cases part and parcel in procuring those kinds of titles.

“It should be a national tragedy to have a situation where a title is not a primary evidence of ownership. We are aware of very many cases of fraud being carried out by Kenyans. Some of them have surprisingly made money through those kinds of fraudsters but then maybe cleansed that money in institutions like schools, bhang, or other real property investments,” she said.

She proposed that amending the Land Act would provide the registrar of lands with clear guidelines for addressing fraudulent activities.

“I am willing to take the fight to the crime scenes. These people have stolen land left, right, and centre. Government, institutions have lost land to people working within. I think we need to work on the amendments very quickly to the Land Act so that the minute the technical information on the land record is known to be interfered with or to have been fraudulently secured or changed, then the registrar should be able to immediately effect a cancellation,” she said.

While calling for increased police support to reinforce these efforts, Wahome mentioned having already flagged fraudulent documents during her previous tenure.

“I have impugned some of the documents because they are obvious frauds and therefore I am not willing to take the dirty work of my Ministry to the courts. Let the person alluding or alleging that they have a good title deed go take me to court and that should happen to everybody,” she said.

Wahome was the third candidate appearing before the Appointments Committee Chaired by National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula.

While defending herself on why she should hold the position, she said she is a team player and one who takes pride in working within the team.

"I'm a team worker, I'm a hard worker, I believe in hard work and I have the right attitude to carry out my work as a minister," she said.

She said as a lawyer, she understands some aspects of the ministry she is nominated for, for example in the State Department for Lands.

She further added that she is competent, and has, in the past, been exposed to some challenges at the ministry which she hopes to overcome with the support of the Parliament.

Wahome held the post as the CS for lands from October 5, 2023, to July 11, 2024, when President William Ruto sacked all CSs save for Prime Cabinet Secretary and CS for Foreign Affairs Musalia Mudavadi.

Wahome said for the ten months she served the ministry, she ensured that several programmes were up and running.

"I would say that in terms of the work that I've been doing, I'm very thankful to President William Ruto for returning me by way of this nomination, back to the ministry that I have been for the last 10 months," she said.

"I find that as a confirmation or expression of confidence that I did my work properly and subject to the approval, I'm willing to serve the country in that capacity."

Before that, she served as the CS for Water, having been appointed in September 2023.

Wahome stated that while working for the Ministry of Water, she developed frameworks for minimising non-revenue water and water purchase agreements.

She stated that she completed many boreholes and devised several strategic strategies to raise cash totalling Sh80 billion, which includes the budget. Wahome stated she quickly understood the mandate and that they increased national water coverage from 65 per cent to 72 per cent.

She also highlighted that they increased sanitation from 26 per cent to 32 per cent.