Ruto rejects landlords’ billion-shilling demands as Kenya rolls out coastal land titles

Families who have lived on Kenya’s Coast without ownership papers are receiving land titles, but the government’s effort to secure their homes faces a dispute over billions of shillings. President William Ruto says absentee landlords are demanding too much for land earmarked for resettlement. Speaking on Friday as he handed out 5,000 title deeds in Mombasa, he said the state would negotiate compensation but would not accept the prices being demanded, according to Nation Africa Kenya (direct).

The confrontation puts the cost of buying land at the centre of a programme intended to end decades of insecure occupancy. Ruto accused unnamed landlords of using title deeds—documents establishing land ownership—to force residents out while seeking large payments from the government. He said his administration would protect squatters against eviction from those properties. The report did not identify individual compensation claims or give the landlords’ response.

A Sh10 billion effort to secure ownership

Ruto said the government had allocated a combined Sh10 billion across the 2023/24, 2024/25 and 2025/26 financial years to address the squatter problem, including purchases from absentee landlords. He said most of the landlords involved were from Mombasa. While offering discussions and payment, he challenged some title holders to explain how they had obtained their documents and what they had paid for the land. His allegations about the legitimacy of those titles were not accompanied by details of individual cases in the report.

Ruto said the government would negotiate compensation with absentee landlords, but would not accept prohibitive demands or allow residents to be evicted.

The Mombasa handover covered seven settlements: Dongo Kundu, Mwakirunge, Kwa Punda, Ex-Waitiki, Kwa Hakatsa, Mafisini and Mikindani. Dongo Kundu and Mwakirunge accounted for the largest allocations listed in the report, with 1,659 and 1,400 titles respectively. The ceremony took place at Mama Ngina Waterfront Grounds, where Ruto linked the distribution to his 2022 campaign promise to address the Coast’s longstanding land disputes.

A December target and a compensation challenge

The president described insecure land ownership as a legacy of the colonial period that had left generations of coastal residents living as squatters. He said the disputes had fuelled poverty, conflict, evictions and displacement. In his account, the programme is intended both to establish ownership and to give residents a stronger sense of belonging in the country. Members of the Wapemba community, who were recently granted Kenyan citizenship, are among its beneficiaries.

Ruto said he had assigned Senate Speaker Amason Kingi and Cabinet Secretaries Hassan Joho and Salim Mvurya in 2023 to work with regional MPs, governors and senators on the problem. He said 300 land officers had now been deployed to speed up surveying and the processing of ownership documents. Recipients should not be asked to pay for their title deeds, he added.

The government is targeting about 500,000 title deeds across the Coast by December. Ruto also said 300,000 residents would move from squatter status to land ownership during the week of his visit, and promised to return with more titles in two months. Those further distributions, alongside negotiations over compensation, are the next milestones to watch as the state presses ahead with its ownership programme.