Land
Squatters living in the disputed Kakuzi land have been given hope of finally getting resettled after the National Lands Commission (NLC) officials visited the area to establish the company’s idle land that should be ceded to them.
During the tour in the vast land situated in Murang’a County yesterday by the Historical Land Injustices Secretariat led by the Secretariat Head Edmond Gichuru, the officials established that there were several acres of unused land owned by the Company.
The ground visit established in detail historical land injustice claims against the multinational agricultural firm. The Commission is now set to embark on preparing determinations for all the claims. Residents now expect NLC to recommend that Kakuzi cedes some 14,000 acres of land to the squatters.
Led by their Chairperson Murigi Njogu, they said NLC has no choice since they have established that most of the company’s land lies idle yet they continue suffering as squatters in their ancestral land.
“The officials have toured the Kakuzi land and established that thousands of acres lie idle and that we expect in their recommendations, they will force the company to cede the land to squatters. We have suffered a lot of historical injustices at the hands of the company and we hope this will soon end,” Murigi said.
Officials of the National Land Commission, Historical Land Injustices during a tour at Kakuzi farm, Murang’a County yesterday
He at the same time cautioned the NLC against engaging with the wrong parties, urging them to collaborate with local administrators to obtain an accurate list of those affected. He accused Kakuzi of falsely claiming that there is no idle land within the over 33,000 acres they occupy and stressed the importance of proper handling of the matter to avoid a repeat of past mistakes.
“NLC should not allow the Murang’a County government to manage the allocation of the land if ceded. We don’t want a repeat of the Delmonte’s ceded land saga that ended up in the hands of the county government rather than the rightful beneficiaries,” he said.
Victims of these alleged injustices, like Margret Syombua, shared painful testimonies at the hands of Kakuzi guards who cannot allow them to fetch firewood in the forest, to bury their loved ones, farm, or develop the area. Charles Ngugi, another resident, presented compelling evidence and testimonies detailing the brutal displacement that the community has faced over the years, often carried out under the cover of darkness by Kakuzi’s guards.