Ownership
The County Government of Nakuru has set up a standing committee to hasten the process of acquiring title deeds for public land after it emerged that 210 health institutions and four cemeteries did not have the document.
County Executive Committee Member (CECM)for Lands, Physical Planning, Housing, and Urban Development, John Kihagi said the devolved unit’s administration is making every effort to secure public interest that lies in public health facilities within the region.
For a long time now, land belonging to public health facilities across all the 11 Sub-Counties have been the target of grabbers, and for good reason- they hardly have title deeds. “We will ensure that the public health facilities that were established by our forefathers and foremothers do not fade into sunset under our watch but remain public grounds that they are through sanctity of the title,” declared Mr Kihagi.
He said failure to secure the public health facilities exposes the taxpayer to the risk of losing or paying private firms and individuals billions of shillings in compensation. Mr Kihagi spoke at the Nakuru Teaching and Referral Hospital during a consultative meeting between the Department of Health and that of Lands on how to jumpstart the process of acquiring the land ownership documents.
Last year, the County Assembly raised the alarm over the continued shrinking of public health facilities’ land due to encroachment and grabbing by unscrupulous private developers. Kihagi indicated that they will deploy County Surveyors and Planners to determine levels of encroachment, grabbing, land size and land status, adding that this move will ensure all health facilities are documented with grabbed land reverted back to the county.
“This is in line with Governor Susan Kihika’s directive on Titling of all public utilities within Nakuru to form part of the County Public Land Inventory. We will fast-track the process of acquiring title deeds for all public health facilities to keep away land grabbers,” affirmed the CECM.
Reports tabled in the assembly over the last four years show that most of the public health facilities in the county have no ownership documents. Among the recommendations include compelling the Department of Lands and Physical Planning to start the process of issuing land documents in the names of the hospitals.
In 2019, the health committee led by the then Elburgon MCA Njuguna Mwaura, visited Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital- Annex, which serves residents within Nakuru County. The committee found the hospital that has served Nakuru residents for over 60 years has no title deed and is registered under private ownership.
According to Njuguna, the hospital was launched to cater for patients from the main Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital due to congestion. “Despite sitting on government land, the hospital has no ownership document,” read the report in part.
In March last year, the same committee visited Naivasha Sub- County Referral Hospital to assess the quality of services provided to the public. A report tabled in the assembly on March 8, 2023 showed Nakuru county government has no title deed for the land where Naivasha Hospital sits.
“The facility has no title deed and the county cannot claim it owns the property. Soon the property may be claimed by private individuals,” submitted the committee in its report. Another report, passed by the Assembly on October 4, 2023, shows that Elburgon Hospital in Molo sub-county has no ownership documents.
The hospital which sits on 3.72 hectares of land serves a population of over 36,450 patients but sometimes gets referrals from other facilities. The Health Committee has now turned its guns on the Implementation Committee of the assembly, for failing to follow up on the title deeds.
According to the Committee, the implementation team has failed to table reports on the progress in obtaining the deeds for the hospitals. “Despite previous recommendations by the assembly for title documents of hospitals to be obtained, the implementation committee has not followed up,” states the report.
The committee now wants the Department of Health to collaborate with the Department of Land, Housing and Physical Planning to fast-track processing of the documents. The house has also given the implementation committee 21 days to respond to the allegations of lagging follow-up to the issuance of title deeds for the hospitals.
Chapter Five of the Constitution defines public land as that occupied by state organs, government forests, game reserves and national parks, specially protected areas, roads and road reserves. County Executive Committee Member for Health Roselyn Mungai said the department will facilitate all the necessary documents for ease of the exercise.
Mungai hailed the Lands docket for seeking to employ the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms to address disputed lands where some of the health facilities stand.