“Hatutani Vitu Za Ruto“ Kwale residents Return Title Deeds Issued by Ruto, Why They Rejected Them

A section of residents in Kwale County has started returning title deeds issued by President William Ruto, barely weeks after the government distributed thousands of land ownership documents in the region.

The residents say the documents contain irregularities that have left them questioning whether they can rely on them to secure their land rights.

On September 28, 2026, President Ruto issued 94,175 title deeds to beneficiaries in Kwale County. More than 26,000 were handed over during a ceremony at Kibaoni in Lunga Lunga Constituency.

The exercise was part of the government’s wider plan to distribute 500,000 title deeds across the Coastal region by the end of 2026.

However, some beneficiaries now say the documents do not reflect what they expected.

One of their biggest concerns involves additional fees indicated on the title deeds. John Kassim, a resident of Lunga Lunga, said the documents suggest that some payments must be made before the titles can be completed.

He questioned why the documents contained such conditions when residents had been assured that the necessary fees had already been paid.

Other residents said they had attempted to use the title deeds to secure loans from commercial banks but were reportedly turned away. They claimed the banks questioned the documents’ validity and financial value.

Moses Makelele said the rejection had disappointed beneficiaries who hoped to use their land documents to access credit.

The residents have also raised concerns about the sizes of the parcels allocated to them. Some claim they received smaller plots than the land their families had occupied and cultivated for many years.

Earlier complaints from the area involved allocations measuring 50 by 100 feet, which some residents considered inadequate compared to their ancestral land.

Julius Kaema said the affected residents were returning the documents through local administration officials so that the government could correct the alleged errors.

They are now asking President Ruto to intervene, review the disputed allocations and issue corrected title deeds.

The complaints have raised questions about the implementation of the government’s land settlement programme. However, the allegations about the documents have not yet been independently established.

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