How fraudsters deceive Kenyans while buying land; NCRC report
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The most common way Kenyans lose land is through the Lands Ministry's double allocation of land according to a new report by NCRC
The most common way Kenyans lose land is through the Lands Ministry’s double allocation of land according to a new report by NCRC.
According to a report released on Wednesday by the National Crime Research Centre (NCRC) titled Baseline Study on Land-Related Crimes and Offences in Kenya, more than 36.5% of cases reported in the past year were caused by multiple land allocations, which led to confusion regarding the validity of title deeds.
The poll found that there had been 484 occurrences of double allocation in the past year, 418 cases of land beacon removal, 411 cases of trespassing on private property, and 307 cases of faking land documentation.
In addition, fraudsters have been known to change land maps (292 cases), conspire to commit fraud (278 cases), issue fictitious titles (229 cases), and occupy and sell land without permission (228 cases).
The report further attributes the increase in land-related cases to landowners who are not present.
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“From the finding of this study, it is highly likely that the issue of absentee landlords could be in part, the opportunity to the would-be criminals of land-related crimes and offences. It is imperative that land owners be sensitized on routine inspections of their parcel of land for purposes of ascertaining the condition of ownership and also the boundaries beacons,” read part of the report.
The report also cited an informant from the National Government Administration in Kisii County, who mentioned that landowners who travel abroad frequently become targets of land-related crimes.
“In this county, there have been cases where land owners went abroad and the caretaker poses as the land owner thus overseeing the fraudulent sale of the land. Influential people collude with brokers and land officials to transfer land illegally,” he said.
From the findings of the survey, it also emerged that corrupt government officials (NGAOs, land officials, judiciary, ministry of land), land brokers, family members, private surveyors, corrupt advocates, and some politicians formed part of the fraudsters who were frequently involved in the crimes.
Cases involving land brokers led with 41.4 percent, followed by family members (39.7 percent), neighbours (35. 1 percent), and corrupt land-buying company officials (21.9 percent).
Others included land developers (12.9 percent), political leaders (10.2 percent and corrupt advocates (10.1 percent).
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