State caveat on land a double tragedy for poll chaos victims
Families that have moved out of Maasai Mau Forest camping at Chepkakundi shopping centre in Kuresoi South, Nakuru County speak to journalist on October 27, 2019. They have been ordered out of the private land where they have been camping.
Some 950 families at the controversy hit Chepakundi and Kapsita settlement schemes want the government to lift caveats imposed on their land over 20 years ago.
The victims of the 1992 and 2007/2008 clashes that hit parts of Molo have appealed to President Kenyatta to order the lifting of the caveats.
In a letter to the President seen by the Nation, the residents have also pleaded for the resettlement of hundreds of families that are still landless.
Mr Francis Gakero said many of the victims were destitute. He asked the President to resolve the issue before he retires after the August 9 General Election.
“We can’t develop the land, and [we] have lagged behind economically. We’re appealing to President Kenyatta to intervene and safeguard the dignity of the families,” Mr John Keriko said.
The residents also want President Kenyatta to help resettle about 200 of the 950 families, whose parcels were taken by senior government officials in past regimes.
The settlers say, several people, including former powerful politicians in the Moi government, and provincial officers, allocated themselves huge chunks of land in the settlement schemes that were meant for peasant farmers.
A report tabled before the Nakuru County Assembly in 2014 unearthed major irregularities in the acquisition of land in the two settlement schemes.
The report by the assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee further said, part of the land was fraudulently acquired by senior government officials and politicians at the expense of genuine victims of the clashes.
Although the committee said it had identified the alleged grabbers, the report omitted their names. The affected families had petitioned the assembly to investigate alleged land grabbing by powerful peoples after the 1992 tribal clashes in Chepakundi and Kapsita in Elburgon.
The report recommended that officials both at the national and county governments should return the land to its rightful owners.
The team added that government officials who benefited from the land be investigated by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission for abuse of office.
However, the report is yet to be implemented to date.
Mr Keriko said they have visited various government offices, but the matter is yet to be addressed. The families are among thousands that bore the brunt of the 1992 and 2007 clashes in Molo.
