Relief for villagers as public road reopened

The Embu County lands department has opened a public road that was closed in 2016 following a land dispute pitting two families.

Following the dispute, each family had encroached on the road and put up fences which blocked residents from using it.

The altercation had inconvenienced over 350 residents of Ngungo village in Mavuria location who had been forced to use a longer route.

Embu County Executive Committee member for lands Josphat Kithumbu said each of the families in the dispute had tried to settle the matter out of court.

When that option failed, they went to court. The court directed that a survey be done on the land to establish the boundaries.

The court later ordered the fences be removed and the road opened.

Lands officials from the county used a grader to dig up the road and put up boundary beacons while armed police kept vigil.

 “Boundaries disputes usually come up especially when dealing with general boundaries. And that is why we have a law that guides on how boundaries should be approached,” said Mr Kithumbu.

He added that if any of the families felt aggrieved by the new boundaries, they had a right to appeal the court ruling.

Last month residents had made their anger known about the closure of the road