Row over ownership of over 300 acres piece of land in Eldoret town has intensified as two warring groups claim to be the rightful owners.
The land in question is claimed to have been left behind by a British settler identified as Hughes in 1968.
Mary Jepkoech claims that the settler left the land to his family but was later kicked out by a group of people, who are now also claiming ownership.
In an interview with Uasin Gishu News, Jepkoech, now 67 years old said he was born in the land now at the center of the wrangle.
“My mother and father came here when they were youths in 1915 and they later married in 1930. In 1955 my father died and in 1968 when the settler was about to leave, he took me around the land and said it was 375 acres that he was leaving for us,” Jepkoech narrated.
She further claimed that after the settler left, a group of people invaded them and kicked them out of the land, forcing them to relocate to the current land, where they are leaving as squatters.
“We’re now living in a pathetic condition yet we have a land that is being illegally occupied by some people. We urge the government to help us get back our land,” added Jepkoech.
But even as Jepkoech claims to be the rightful owner of the vast land, another group of more than 20 squatters led by Edward Busienei is also claiming a portion of the land.
The group accuses Jepkoech’s family of wanting to short-change them instead of equally sharing the land as squatters.
They are now seeking the intervention of the Uasin Gishu County leadership to help resolve the stand-off.
