Victims of the Lolldaiga fire, allegedly started by British soldiers in Laikipia County in 2021, now want their compensation claims to be resolved through a mediation process.
The more than 5,000 claimants have accused the Inter-Government Liaison Committee (IGLC) of dragging its feet in dealing with compensation claims following the March 2021 fire, which residents say affected their health, livestock and the environment.
For more than two years, the residents have been waiting for compensation after suing the British Army Training Unit in Kenya (BATUK).
Last year, the Environment and Land Court in Nanyuki ordered that the compensation claims be handled by the IGLC, which is made up of representatives of the Kenyan and British governments.
However, the court added that the claims could also be handled through a mediation process.
The claimants now want to explore the alternative route to compensation, saying the IGLC has proved slow and accusing the committee of putting unnecessary hurdles in the way.
A section of the claimants gathered at the Jua Kali Shopping Centre on Mashujaa Day, where they denounced the IGLC's new demands for a fresh verification process to pave the way for compensation.
"I received a letter from IGLC requiring that the claimants be subjected to another round of medical assessment at their own cost. Why this new demand when some of the claimants are long dead?" asked the claimants' lawyer, Kelvin Kubai.
He said the claimants had submitted evidence to the IGLC detailing how each of them had been affected by the toxic smoke from the fire, and that the easiest way to proceed would be to use the mediation process that was used to compensate the Mau Mau freedom fighters.
During the meeting, the claimants said that more than 100 of their colleagues had died while waiting for compensation.
"More than 100 of our colleagues have died while waiting for the compensation and we are not ready to wait any longer. We shall bar the foreign troops from training within our neighbourhood until we receive compensation," said Mr Saituk Kaparo.
The residents said 500 of their representatives would march and present a petition to the British High Commission in Nairobi a day before King Charles III is due to visit Kenya.
The British monarch is expected to be in Kenya from October 31 to November 3. However, the King will not visit Laikipia County, where the BATUK Barack is located and where foreign troops conduct their routine training.
"We shall be asking King Charles to move the British troops out of Kenya. There is more suffering we can show from their continued stay here than the benefits of employing our children," said Ms Agnes Murage, who claimed her father died of respiratory complications from the toxic smoke.
In its lawsuit, community and environmental lobby group African Centre for Corrective and Preventive Action (ACCPA) claimed that the fire, which consumed 7,000 acres of vegetation, emitted smoke containing dangerous chemicals and explosives.
Addressing more than 1,000 claimants on Friday, ACCPA director James Mwangi said the British government had initially shown interest in paying the compensation, but some unnamed senior officials were to blame for the dilly-dallying.
"That is why we have decided to go the mediation way to evade unnecessary hurdles being put on the way," said Mr Mwangi.
