Minister believes K6bil land claims false

LANDS and Physical Planning Minister Justin Tkatchenko says they have land compensation claims totalling K6 billion.
“And we believe that 80 per cent of these claims are false,” he said.
Tkatchenko said about 90 per cent were for compensation claims on State land.
“We had set up a committee to review the entire land compensation claim in the Lands department.
“This committee was to go through every single claim lodged in the past 30 years.
“They found so far in the Highlands region and now Momase that 90 per cent of the land claimed was State land.” He said false claims had become a rot in the department.
“It had become an ongoing practice for a while where Land Department officers would deal with Finance and Treasury and make up deals to get money through land compensation claim which were very high (and) totally not acceptable.
“We are trying to save the State money by going through the process of identifying the true landowners and ensuring that they get compensation if they are legitimate. We are also trying to get the Valuer-General to sit with those genuine landowners and revalue the actual land that is been asked for compensation.”