Hundreds of residents from Isiolo and Meru counties have accused the military of encroaching on their land.
Residents yesterday staged demos in various urban centres in both Isiolo and Meru to pile pressure on several units of the army to vacate their properties.
One group concluded its demonstrations at Kiwanja and Epinding centres in Ngaremara, Meru while the group from Isiolo was at Ramadhan.
They accused Kenya Army’s School of Artillery (SOI) and 78 Tank Battalion of encroaching on their ancestral land.
At Kiwanja, angry protesters brought down the signboard erected by SOI and demanded the army should remain within its demarcated land.
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Activists Joseph Kalapata, Peter Losu and Osman Dima who led the protests, said despite intervention by Senate Committee on Security that met elders from communities in Isiolo and Meru in May last year, the matter remains unresolved.
The committee, led by Garissa Senator Yussuf Haji, had told community leaders the tussle with the army over their land would be discussed and an amicable solution reached.
Residents from the two counties had urged the team that has Isiolo Senator Fatuma Dullo, to prevail on the Department of Defence to move activities out of their land.
The other units of the army residents accused of encroaching on their land are School of Infantry (SOI) at Maili Saba and School of Combat Engineering (SOCE) at Choka in Isiolo.
Yesterday, residents of Maili Saba accused SOI of taking over their land.
SOI, which came to the area in 1981, claims it owns the land it has been accused of snatching.
The row prompted the outgoing Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) General Samson Mwathethe to visit Isiolo in 2014 in in a bid to resolve it. He was deputy CDF then.
During his meeting with former governor Godana Doyo and former County Commissioner Wanyama Musiambo, General Mwathethe promised to address the matter.
Residents of Choka and Mayatta Zebra in Ngaremara staged demonstrations over the weekend accusing SOCE of illegally occupying their land.
Mr Kalapata, Centre for Community Change coordinator, said the defunct county council of Isiolo allocated SOCE 1,200 hectares on March 29, 1999. However, the army has since extended the the land 3,359 hectares of community land.
Mr Losu, the former Ngaremara MCA, said Ngaremara trading centre, Nakupurat, Daaba and Zebra villages were the most affected.
Some villagers at Choka have already left after they were reportedly served notices to vacate their land.
At Gambella, residents are faced with eviction SOA and 78 Tank Battalion. Even worse is the fact the dispute property is claimed by residents from both Isiolo and Meru.
“Both SOI and 78 Tank Battalion have been here and they want us to leave,” said Mr Mohammed Shukri, who says he owns 10 acres and a borehole.
SOI, villagers claimed, has extended its land from the junction of Isiolo-Moyale Road to Tractor, Kisima, Chumvi Yarre and Maendeleo, an area of about 10,000 hectares. This is less than 1.5kms from Isiolo Town.
