Ruto Pledge to End Historical Land Injustice While Issuing 33,000 Title Deeds In Mombasa

By Mbungu Harrison

Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com

President William Ruto has issued over 33,000 title deeds to squatters in the Coast as he began his day-one of the five development tour of the region.

The President said the government has bought land from absentee landlords to resettle more than 200,000 squatters across the region.

Speaking at Mama Ngina Waterfront, he said the move fulfilled a commitment to resolve the squatter problem by giving residents ownership rights of their parcels of land and end the fear of evictions.

“The problem we are solving is absentee landlords who own land but don’t live on it, while squatters live on private land without titles.”

Under the national land titling programme, 1.5 million title deeds have been issued since the Kenya Kwanza administration took office in 2022. Of these, 25 per cent or 381,000 titles are for the Coast region.

Today, May 21, 2026, the President issued 33,025 title deeds for residents within and without the Mombasa County.

According to him negotiations are ongoing to resettle about 200,000 households or 1 million people in the region.

He said the government was also investing heavily in the blue economy and infrastructure.

Some of goodies is Sh5 billion set aside for fishing infrastructure with five fish landing sites worth Sh8 million set for launching. The government has also bought 272 boats at a cost of Sh840 million for fishermen.

In Mombasa, Sh1.4 billion has been allocated for the rehabilitation of Mombasa County Stadium to be carried out by the Kenya Defence Forces.

The President said the returning of port operations to Mombasa was part of delivering development activities the government promised to the people of the region.

He directed land officers to move quickly and complete the subdivision of remaining land so beneficiaries can receive their titles.

Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, Senate Speaker Amason Kingi, and cabinet secretaries Hassan Joho and Salim Mvurya led Coast leaders in pledging support for Ruto’s re-election in 2027.

Kingi said 30 per cent of the 1.5 million title deeds issued nationally have gone to the Coast and urged residents to back a government that was addressing their concerns.

“This programme will continue until 2032 and beyond. It means all residents will be resettled,” he said.

Mvurya said squatterism would soon be a thing of the past and criticized past leaders for using land injustices as a campaign tool.

“Squatterism is going to be a thing of the past. Let’s work with the government of the day to reap the benefits,” he said.

Coast governors: Abdulswamad Nassir (Mombasa), Dhadho Godhana (Tana River), Andrew Mwadime (Taita Taveta) Gideon Mung’aro (Kilifi), and Fatuma Achani (Kwale) expressed support citing ongoing land purchases and resettlement in their respective counties.

UDA Secretary General Hassan Omar said 380,000 of the issued titles which was 30% have gone to Coast squatters.