Lands ministry plans landmarks for county borders

Politics and policy

Senate Land and Natural Resources Committee chairman Lenny Kivuti at Parliament Buildings Oct 22, 2014. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU 

By BD REPORTER

In Summary

• The Ministry of Lands has started talks with the National Treasury and the Interior ministry on erecting the beacons and signs.
• Lands director of physical planning Augustine Masinde said on Wednesday they would identify strategic places to put up the symbols.
• This is expected to help address boundary fights that have sucked in counties like Meru, Isiolo, Kericho, Kisii, Nyamira, Machakos, Makueni and Kajiado. 

The government will put up visible landmarks including beacons, road signs and other conspicuous symbols such as signposts in all county boundaries to settle the growing number of disputes among the devolved units.

The Ministry of Lands has started talks with the National Treasury and the Interior ministry on erecting the beacons and signs.

This is expected to help address boundary fights that have sucked in counties like Meru, Isiolo, Kericho, Kisii, Nyamira, Machakos, Makueni and Kajiado. 

But the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) wants Parliament to urgently set up an agency to settle the disputes.

Lands director of physical planning Augustine Masinde said on Wednesday they would identify strategic places to put up the symbols.

“We want to ensure that the ordinary Kenyans are able to know their boundaries. We already have the signs on our international boundaries. We would like to have them on the county boundaries as well,” said Mr Masinde when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Lands on Wednesday.

Director of Survey in the Ministry of Lands Cesare Mbaria said the signage would be key in dealing with disputes and settle controversies on location of key installations.

“At times when you use rivers it is a bit tricky because some have different names and end up bringing confusion. We want to install permanent land marks to identify the borders,” said Mr Mbaria.

The committee chaired by Embu Senator Lenny Kivuti is presently handling a border dispute between Machakos and Makueni counties over the location of Konza City.

READ: IEBC raises alarm over rising county boundaries feuds

Makueni, Kajiado and Machakos counties have been claiming ownership of the multi-billion- shilling project. County boundaries and revenue sharing disputes are not peculiar to Konza City.

Elsewhere, Meru Governor Peter Munya is also caught up in a row with his Isiolo counterpart Godana Doyo.  Meru accuses Isiolo of encroachment.

Kericho and Kisii residents have also been haggling over borders along the tea plantations with each party arguing that the other has encroached on their land.

In Nyanza, governors James Ongwae (Kisii) and John Nyagarama (Nyamira) have both laid claim to Keroka, a busy and famous township located on the Kisii-Nairobi highway.

The Senate recently discovered disparities between the Districts and Provinces Act of 1992 and the Ministry of Lands maps demarcating boundaries of some of the counties.