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Dancing group ex-members seek titles for land ‘given to them’ by Jomo
Surviving members of Wareng/Nyakinyua display the main title deed of their 80-acre piece of land located in the outskirt of Eldoret town given to them by founding father of the nation Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. The land is estimated to be worth Sh800 million
For the last 50 years, more than 300 members of the Wareng/Nyakinyua dance troupe in Uasin Gishu County have been waiting for title deeds for 80 acres of land in vain.
Some of them have died without receiving the vital documents.
Their patience has run out and now they want President Uhuru Kenyatta to help them get title deeds for the land on the outskirts of Eldoret whose value is estimated at Sh800 million.
They claim the property was given to them over 50 years ago by the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, the father of the outgoing president, saying it was grabbed by influential people.
Led by Ms Pauline Mwangi, 70, they asked the President to issue them with title deeds before he leaves office after the August 9 General Election. They want to subdivide the land among members.
They said they need the documents “so that our children can have a secure future long after we are gone”, said Ms Mwangi, a widow.
She said that they had been unable to enter their property, which only has a mother title deed, after some people claimed to own vast parts of it.
The new owners, she claimed, took advantage of the 2007/2008 post-election violence to grab their property. They had escaped to save their lives after presidential election results were disputed, sparking the chaos.
Speaking in Timboroa, on the Eldoret-Nakuru highway, where they live as squatters, they said they cannot bury their relatives on the land as ownership is disputed.
Mwangi Kamau 83, one of the surviving members of Wareng/Nyakinyua troupe dancers speaking at Timboroa trading centre along the Eldoret-Nakuru highway.
Peter Mathu, another member, said the majority of their members had died even before benefiting from the share of the prime land.
“Our request to President Kenyatta is to help expedite the issuing of title deeds to the surviving members of Wareng/Nyakinyua from Uasin Gishu County before his term ends,” pleaded the frail Mathu, 76.
Mr Mathu regretted that some of the people who claim ownership of the land have started building palatial homes on the disputed property. He expressed fears that they might sell the houses to unsuspecting buyers.
Mwangi Kamau, 83, another surviving member, expressed frustration over the government’s slow pace in addressing their plight.
“We wonder why the government has not seen fit to include us in the programme aimed at issuing over one million title deeds that was launched by President Kenyatta earlier this year,” Mzee Kamau said.
When he launched the programme for Nairobi residents in June, the President promised to restore the dignity of Kenyan families who have struggled to get titles for their land.
“Dignity comes with ownership. We pledged in February 2013 when we launched the Jubilee manifesto and for far too long, Kenyans have been talking about the land question but what we need was the land answer,” he said.
As of 2013, he said, 67 per cent of Kenyan land had not been adjudicated and had no title deed and those who lived on community land suffered as they could not put the land into commercial use.
He argued that nine years into his leadership, most of the questions on land had been answered by the introduction of the National Tilting Programme, which enables easier and faster processing of title deeds.
