NLC backs 60-metre Kiambu–Ruiru–Tatu road reserve in Gitei village dispute

The National Land Commission (NLC) has backed the Kenya National Highways Authority's position that the disputed road reserve along the Kiambu–Ruiru–Tatu City road remains 60 metres wide, rejecting claims by residents of Gitei Village that the corridor should be limited to 40 metres.

The Commission presented its position before the National Assembly Public Petitions Committee during deliberations on Public Petition No. 18 of 2025 concerning road reserve boundaries and protection of ancestral land in Gitei Village, Kiambu County.

The petitioners, representing more than 10,000 residents, claim that they have occupied and developed the land for generations based on the understanding that the road reserve measures 40 metres, arguing that a move to enforce a 60-metre reserve would result in demolitions, displacement of families and destruction of homes and businesses.

According to the petitioners, KeNHA recently placed new beacons along the road corridor between Kiu River and Kirigiti, signaling an intention to expand the reserve beyond what residents had long understood to be the official boundary.

However, the National Land Commission CEO, Kabale Tache Arero, told lawmakers that historical survey records support a 60-metre road reserve.

The Commission stated that originally, the road reserve width was planned and surveyed at 60 meters, as clearly delineated on Survey Plan F/R No. 9/69, which was surveyed and authenticated in 1915.

The NLC further argued that residents' reliance on a 2003 Gazette Notice was misplaced because the notice did not specifically alter the boundaries of the road in question.

In its submission before the lawmakers, NLC said that, "As a matter of law, a gazetted road reserve is strictly unavailable for allocation, excision, or private use."

"Any excision of any part of the planned, reserved, and surveyed road is considered as an overlap on the road, which is not only irregular but also illegal," Tache warned.

According to the NLC, the legal status of the road reserve has remained unchanged despite later references to standard road reserve widths for Class C roads.

"The statutory width of the C115 road reserve remains 60 meters," and that "The purported reduction of this road reserve from 60 meters to 40 meters based on Gazette Notice No. 3632 is legally untenable," Tache said.

To resolve the dispute, the Commission recommended that land records be corrected to align with the original survey.

"The current registry records be amended and re-aligned to conform with the original road reserve width and boundaries as established and authenticated in the 1915 survey," Tache told MPs.

The Public Petitions Committee is expected to consider the Commission's submissions before making recommendations on the dispute, which could affect thousands of residents in the rapidly growing Kiambu area, while the committee chairperson and Runyenjes Constituency MP, Muchangi Karemba, urged the committee to consider having the complainants and the directly affected stakeholders in one forum to resolve the matters in question.