By Moses Njagih

At 66, Thami Mutahi still hopes to one day own a place to call his own.Mutahi a descendant of a Mau Mau fighter says the colonial government took his father’s 61-acre land.

The family was then moved to Gatitu colonial village in Nyeri.

Thousands of other families in the village share the tale of dispossession.

Around the village are trenches dug during the colonial period apparently to keep off the Mau Mau fighters.

Mutahi looks at the trenches and shakes his head: "I wonder if real freedom would ever come."

Mr Muthami Mutahi, a squatter. Photo: George Mulala/Standard

He says only major land reforms will reverse their fortunes.

He warns if the current situation whereby a few people own most of the land is not reversed, there might be a revolt.

In Central Province, there are about 103 villages where former freedom fighters and their families live. Their plots are barely an eighth of an acre.

"The land was taken by chiefs and home-guards who collaborated with the colonial government," he says.

Only a few freedom fighters were lucky to get back small portions of their land back.

"Kenyatta’s Government could have corrected the problem, but it did not," says Mutahi.

Successive Governments have failed to honour promises to settle them, or to even issue title deeds for the small plots.

When President Kibaki, who is from Nyeri, took over Government in 2003, residents were excited. They thought because he is one of their own, he would issue title deeds.

But that was not to be. They have been promised alternative land or title deeds for the small plots many times.

"The Kibaki administration has been promising to give us title deeds for the land, but we are yet to get them," says Jane Watetu, a resident of Mutathi-ini village that neighbours Gatitu.

Most of the residents live in shacks, as they are too poor to build proper houses.

However, even those who can afford dare not build permanent ones, as there has been a lingering fear the Government could evict them.

They share a common graveyard and have set aside other plots for their children’s schools and other amenities.

"The trouble is that these cemeteries are now full and there is no other place where we can bury our dead," says Mrs Jane Watetu of Mutathini colonial village.

Many now say the solution is giving them alternative land ‘before their anger and frustration boils up and they move to reclaim their ancestral land’.

"I have been arrested, beaten and left for the dead. I have been fighting for our land and I will not stop until we get our land," says Mutahi.

In Gatitu, residents said many plots have been grabbed and sold by unscrupulous local council officials. They claim a former mayor sold several plots.

When this happens, those evicted are moved to other people’s parcels that have now been divided and are becoming smaller by the day. This has created conflict among residents.

Contacted, Central PC Kiplimo Rugut said the Government was in the process of surveying the 103 colonial villages to give the settlers title deeds.

"Already seven villages have been surveyed and residents have been given allotment letters. Others are in various stages," said the PC.

The process has slowed down due to lack of money.

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