As Kenyans are slowly becoming immune to land grabbing scandals in the country, Ugandans living in Mombasa petitioned the Kenya government to honor its commitment to offer land to the government of Uganda for use as a dry dock facility during last week’s state visit by Yoweri Museveni.
This is after it emerged that a process to allocate land to Uganda had stalled, with reports that land earmarked for Uganda has since been grabbed by a company notorious in the Coastal region.
Reports show that some land officials were involved in the illegal deal that affects private, public and community lands.
Locals are now protesting that the firm be contained since it may end up dispossessing many entities, including foreign friendly countries and the local authorities.
The land given to Uganda many years ago has been doubly allocated to several people some of who may have used it to claim SGR or KenHA compensation.
Last week President Uhuru Kenyatta said Uganda will be allocated land in Naivasha to build a dry port for its cargo to ease the cost of transporting goods between the two countries.
President Kenyatta said by August this year, the SGR will have reached Naivasha adding that his government will avail land in the town for Uganda to develop a dry port for its cargo.
“I have confirmed to President Museveni that with that development in Naivasha and then moving the SGR to Malaba, goods will be able to move from Mombasa to Malaba in just two days,” President Kenyatta said.
He said as Kenya implements the long-term plan to move all cargo from the road to the SGR, his administration is working on the complete elimination of barriers that slow down movement of cargo such as multiple roadblocks and unnecessary weigh bridges.