Years of anguish for squatters in colonial villages

Residents of Kirichu colonial village in Nyeri County who claim to have been squatters since Kenya gained independence follows a proceedings during one of their meeting.PHOTO:KIBATA KIHU/STANDARD.

In 1953, Waguthi wa Kaloji was a blushing bride. She and her husband were farm labourers for a British settler in Nyeri. Waguthi was among over one million Kenyans who were forced to live in colonial villages in the then Murang’a, Nyeri and Kiambu districts during the State of emergency.

Now aged 90, she recalls that together with her husband, they were resettled in Kirichu colonial village as the Mau Mau war against colonialists raged.