Over 1,300 household members living within the Kapsinende/Sergoit trust land in Uasin Gishu County have protested against plans by a private developer to evict them.
The members who are part of the about 170 families accuse the developer of using fake documents in an attempt to evict them.
They argue that they were allocated the land by the government as compensation after they were relocated from Elgeyo Marakwet to pave the way for the expansion of Iten town four decades ago.
However, a private developer has claimed ownership of the same land.
The families claim that they have been living in the area since 1978 until a private developer came with a suspicious title deed claiming to have acquired it legally and the property in dispute belongs to him.
“This is our land, we have been living here since 1978, the government gave us the land after we were relocated from Elgeyo Marakwet to pave the way for the construction of public institutions such as Tambachi TTC, Iten District Hospitals, Patrick’s High School, Police station among other public institutions,” said Fredric Chebet who is among the beneficiaries.
Investigate title deeds
Speaking during the demonstration, the furious families claimed goons suspected to have been hired by the private developer sprayed their maize plantations with a killer chemical that led to the withering of maize in the affected farms.
“Our hopes have been dashed after all our maize plantations have withered following a move by a person who claims to be the owner of this property hired goons to spray killer chemicals to our maize crops,” said Chebet.
He urged the government to intervene so as to save them from eviction by the said private developer.
The locals further called upon the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate the title deeds in the possession of the said private developer.
“We suspect that the documents in possession of a private developer including the title deed are forged and we are calling upon EACC to investigate the legality of these documents,” Chebet said.
Sayid Keitany, one of the affected people, regretted that their effort to reach local administration to address the matter has been futile.
“We have been visiting various government offices in this region where we are only given promises with no serious action,” he noted.
“We have taken our delegations to various government offices including County commissioners’ offices at Ainaptich and in Eldoret town. Most of the government officers are just making promises to intervene with no serious action,” Keitany added, also expressing concerns that the alleged grabbers were threatening to evict the only primary school in the area – Kapsinende Primary School.
No formal complaint
But contacted for clarification over the matter, Uasin Gishu County commissioner Edyson Nyale said his office has not received any formal complaint from the affected families.
However, Nyale appealed to concerned families to visit his office for deliberation on the matter.
“My role here is to ensure that all residents are living in a peaceful environment, since this is the first time I am hearing about this case I will make efforts to get the attention of all parties so as to forge the way forward,” said the county commissioner.
