Mombasa,

Kenya’s second-largest city and main port, faces a structural land governance crisis. The county government has responded by turning land formalization into a direct municipal service — acting as a financial intermediary between squatters and landowners, a role historically reserved for the national government. The model operates across 7 identified informal settlements: Majaoni (Kisauni), Chaani (Changamwe), Misufini (Jomvu), Likoni 203, Kibundani and Kidunguni (Likoni), and Kisumu Ndogo (Nyali).

Early results are visible: 1,000 title deeds issued in Mikindani Ward in 2023, 500 issued in Miritini in 2025, and 700 more committed to Chaani, bringing the cumulative total under the current administration to 2,500 title deeds issued, with a target of 30,000 by 2027. To reach that scale, the county has allocated a KSh 50 million Ardhi Fund in the 2025/2026 budget as a revolving municipal instrument to purchase land from willing sellers and negotiate settlements without dependence on national transfer funding.

The program runs alongside the Go-Blue project, which links informal coastal communities to sustainable livelihoods, training 5,500 stakeholders, plowing 350 acres, installing 13 shade-net irrigation units, vaccinating 7,331 livestock, and acquiring three fishing vessels for the Nyali BMU. This builds on earlier settlement upgrading works in Ziwa la Ng’ombe, Mkomani, Jomvu Kuu, and Jomvu Mikanjuni, where women secured formal county contracts to manage ablution facilities.