By Godffrey Olale
Over 31,000 residents of Taita Taveta County have received their land title deeds in a government exercise aimed at giving families living in informal settlements formal recognition of their land rights.
President William Ruto presided over the issuance of the documents in Mwatate on Thursday, 1 October 2026, describing the exercise as an important step towards addressing long-standing land ownership challenges in the Coast region.
The titles are being processed through the Second Kenya Informal Settlements Improvement Project, KISIP2, which supports land tenure regularisation in informal settlements.
The KISIP2 is backed by the Kenyan government, the World Bank, the Agence Française de Développement and the European Union.
Among the settlements benefiting are Kaloleni, Sofia, Majengo Mapya, Kijiji Cha Chewa, Mwakingali, Mwatate Old Market, Bura Ndogo, Godoma, Kishamba B and Chawuse.
President Ruto said 2,200 residents of Godoma and 1,240 in Kaloleni would receive title deeds. A further 718 titles were allocated to Mwakingali, 200 to Sofia, 823 to Bura Ndogo and 275 to Mwatate Old Market.
He said titles for Kishamba B were still being prepared and would be issued during the second phase of the exercise, expected to coincide with his planned visit to the county next month.
The president said the government would continue working to resolve outstanding land cases, particularly those linked to historical land injustices in the Coast region.
“An injustice is an injustice, and discrimination is discrimination. Equality is equality,” he said, arguing that residents of the Coast should have the same access to formal land ownership documents as other Kenyans.
For beneficiaries, the documents mean more than proof of ownership.
Formal recognition of land rights can provide greater security of tenure and reduce uncertainty over property. It can also give households greater confidence to invest in homes and businesses and, subject to legal and financial requirements, potentially use formally recognised property to access credit.
President Ruto said the government had invested Ksh 10 billion in addressing squatter settlements in the region and pledged additional resources to complete the process.
Celestine Wanjala, head of the KISIP2 Land Tenure Regularization Component, attended the ceremony.
For KISIP2, the exercise marks the final stage of a process that involves planning, surveying and land administration.