More than 100 squatters from Rumuruti in Laikipia County have protested over claims of being left out of a land allocation exercise.
They alleged that the seven-year old resettlement struggle was hijacked by senior county officials allocating themselves land meant for the squatters.
Speaking at Rumuruti where they paralysed normal businesses operations for hours on Friday, they called on the National Land Commission (NLC) to nullify the list of allocation of 2,141 pieces of land since the majority of them have been left out.
‘’ We appeal to the NLC for their intervention in addressing these injustices; the vulnerable have been undermined by the county leadership. Enough is enough, this is our land and we stand firm,” said Joseph Ole Nanywi, a squatter in Rumuruti.
Rebecca Lekenya said that the department of land in the county interfered with the squatters’ genuine list that resulted in them being short changed where they claimed devolved units including CECM members , prominent traders, contractors and private schools have been allocated dozens of acres of the public land.
‘’We are saddened as the genuine squatters of Kandura who were supposed to benefit from the allocation exercise. Our right has been undermined by the very leaders we elected, we condemn it,” she lamented.
Laikipia County Assembly majority leader John Gichuki Maina who is also the Rumuruti Ward MCA has admitted that he was unknowingly allocated a piece of land and was willing to surrender to the underprivileged.
‘’The genuine squatters have been left out in the allocation of the land; the allocation was done to rich people, big companies which are not even from here. I was unknowingly given one,” revealed the Majority leader.
He said that they would not relent until the land allocation stalemate is addressed and the genuine squatters get their rightful share of the land.
The protesters claim that no public participation took place prior to the allocation as required by the law and that the list released last week by the National Land Commission was a substitute of the initial one where names of more than 1,500 squatters who have been on land owned by the Prisons Department were omitted.
Efforts to reach out to Laikipia County NLC coordinator Grace Wairagu and the CECM in charge of lands Ekwam Nabos to respond to the complaints were futile. Calls and messages went unanswered by the time of filing this story.The land allocation exercise for the squatters started in 2018 with the county government submitting a controversial list of the beneficiaries which was contested in court.
When Governor Joshua Irungu was elected in 2022, he prevailed upon the squatters to withdraw the court case with a promise of fair distribution to the landless.
by Muturi Mwangi
