It has been more than ten years since the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) acquired its land to support seven major electricity transmission projects funded by international donors.
The projects included: the Ethiopia-Kenya Transmission Line, Kenya-Tanzania Transmission Line, Kenya-Uganda Transmission Line, Kenya Power Transmission System Improvement Project, Turkwel-Ortum-Kitale Transmission Line, Olkaria-Lessos Transmission Line, Machakos-Konza Transmission Line, and the Nairobi-Ring Road Transmission Line.
Years later, the thousands of landowners are still clinging to hope that the government will compensate them as promised.
According to Mr Peter Wachira, one of the affected landowners in Naivasha's Maraigushu area, Ketraco in 2012 acquired part of his more than 2-acre land for the establishment of a high voltage electricity infrastructure.
However, promises that he would receive compensation for allowing part of his land to be used for the Ethiopia-Kenya electricity transmission lines remain as such many years later. Just promises.
"We were told to submit original land title deeds, copies of National Identity Cards or Passports, color passport-size photographs, Kenya Revenue Authority PIN certificates, bank account details, among other documents, for the compensation. They came with an offer to pay Sh 180,000 for an acre of land, which they supported with a valuation conducted in 2015, which we feel was faulty," revealed Mr Wachira during an interview.
The Nation established that the landowners were to receive between Sh300,000 to Sh4 million, depending on the size of land acquired.
"As affected landowners, we have the right to be compensated. We sacrificed our plots for the electricity transmission lines, with the promise that we were to be paid immediately. It is unfortunate that over ten years later down the line, no compensation has been made to most of us, and efforts to get the matter addressed by Ketraco have been futile," added Mr Wachira.
However, she admitted that the wayleave compensation payments have been made to some landowners, who were hoodwinked,to surrender their land at the Sh 180,000 per acre rate.
But some documents seen by the Nation that were also previously tabled in parliament, show that one land owner in Maraigushu, whose 0.85-acre land was acquired, signed an agreement with Ketraco to be paid Sh 331,500, while two others with 0.52 and 0.48 acres affected agreed to be paid Sh 202,800 and 187,200.
Their chairman, Peter Kimani, said they had tried to follow up on their compensation to no avail.
"We have been patient enough. They did land valuation, and each landowner was to be paid 30 percent of their land. We have had two presidents now and the song remains the same: that we will be compensated," Kimani told the Nation on Tuesday.
"To date, we have not received anything and we fear this could be an empty promise. We want to be assisted to boost our livelihoods," he added.
Kilometers away in Nyandarua County, Ms Jane Wanjiru, a resident of Kinangop area, got nothing for allowing Ketraco electricity transmission lines to snake through her two-acre family land.
"They had promised to pay Sh180,000 for an acre of land acquired and the damage caused to crops. But it has never happened," she revealed.
The three are just examples of hundreds of landowners across Kenya who are still awaiting payment from Ketraco for their land acquired to support the projects.
Locals in Naivasha, Nyandarua, and Moyale, where the high voltage electricity transmission lines pass, said they lost agricultural land and that the lines passed through places earlier used as community cemeteries.
From poor compensation terms, delayed payouts and unreliable information from the government, the landowners now believe Ketraco has deliberately shortchanged them.
In Maraigushu, Naivasha locals also complain that proper public participation was not conducted to address concerns of health and safety related complications due to the hissing sound on the high voltage electricity transmission lines and the possibility of the electricity towers falling down.
The affected landowners now want the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to probe suspected corrupt dealings in the Ketraco compensation.
"We have reason to believe that there is a lot of fraud in the land compensation exercise, which has taken more than a decade. We want the EACC to intervene and investigate the dealings and establish who may have benefited instead of genuine landowners," Ms Wanjiru told the Nation in an interview.
"Most landowners have not received payments,yet we feel there are suspicious payments that were made. We want even President William Ruto to intervene and help us get the compensation which has been pending since 2012,"added Wanjiru.
When reached for a comment on the matter, Ketraco Head of Communications Winnie Osika said a significant number of affected landowners in Naivasha's Maraigushu have already been compensated.
She, however, said that there are "a few" specific categories of cases that remain pending.
"In regards to Maraigushu, where we acquired land for the Ethiopia–Kenya Electricity Highway Project, the pending compensation cases largely are those of absentee landowners who have been publicly listed in a separate Notice and are encouraged to come forward for facilitation and disputed or succession-related cases, where the exercise has been delayed due to ongoing legal or succession processes, which must be resolved before compensation can be finalized," revealed Ms Osika.
"In the interest of resolving any outstanding concerns, we would appreciate it if they could share the specific grievances. Ketraco encourages any individuals who believe they have a pending compensation claims and have not been contacted or resolved, to reach out directly to our Wayleaves Department for assistance. Ketraco team is available to provide support and ensure that any genuine claims are addressed appropriately," she added.
The claims by the land owners come amid a damning report by the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, which shows that Ketraco owes land owners across the country Sh 4billion in unpaid wayleave compensation.
Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu says that the lack of a legal framework for surrender of non-cash assets poses risks of loss and devaluation.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
The recent forensic audit presented in the National Assembly has revealed that as of June 2023, Ketraco had not settled Sh4,034,962,691 in wayleave compensation.
The audit shows that the total claims for the seven projects amounted to Sh17,021,117,748, of which Sh12,986,155,691 had been disbursed.
The remaining balance covers land, structures, and crops that were either destroyed or affected during project construction.
Ms Gathungu further explained that her office carefully examined the claims for each transmission line.
She reported that the Ethiopia-Kenya Transmission Line still has Sh314,315,441 unpaid from total claims of Sh2.62 billion.
The Turkwel-Ortum-Kitale line has an outstanding balance of Sh972.6 million, while the 98-kilometre Kenya-Tanzania Transmission Line has Sh321.8 million remaining from Sh1.64 billion in total claims.
“On the 400Kv Kenya-Uganda Interconnection Line, Ketraco had a wayleave compensation balance of Sh263.7 million out of a total budget of Sh2.85 billion,” Gathungu revealed.
She added that the Nairobi Ring Project had Sh2 billion already paid from a total of Sh2.2 billion, leaving Sh149.4 million pending.
The audit points to persistent delays in compensating landowners, raising questions about how the company manages funds and engages with affected communities.
In 2019, the claims of pending compensation were tabled in the National Assembly by Naivasha Member of Parliament Jayne Kihara and MPs through the Energy committee ordered that all affected landowners across the country be compensated forthwith.
However, years later, it has never happened.
For many, the payment delays continue to affect livelihoods, as land, crops, and structures remain uncompensated.
