Man cries foul as county turns his land into terminus

A 60-year-old man woke up on Tuesday morning to find his land had been converted into a matatu terminus.

Lawrence Maina claims he has suffered loss worth thousands of shillings after a fence to his one-and-a-half-acre property was demolished by touts operating in the new terminus near Nakuru County Cemetery.

Mr Maina said Nakuru County askaris arrived early in the morning and directed the touts and residents to demolish the fence.

He claims the askaris instructed the locals to load the fencing materials into county vehicles and transported them away.

“When I asked why they were destroying my property, the person who was giving instructions said the county had the right to take over any land within the county,” said Maina.

He said nobody consulted him or asked for permission before invading the land and destroying the fence. The land was turned into a matatu terminus and vehicles started being parked on it.

Maina said the askaris told him they were following “orders from above”.

“I was allocated this land by the district registrar of lands in 1996. There has never been any wrangles involving it. It is a private property and shouldn’t be used for public purposes,” he said.

Yesterday, the matatu operators refused to occupy the space after a gang burnt a car tyre and prevented operators from accessing the land.

Maina said apart from losing the fencing materials, which he estimated to be worth “hundreds of thousands”, his geese and turkeys were also stolen when the fence was destroyed.

Maina said he would institute a suit against the county and seek orders to restrain its officials from invading his land.

“The governor of Nakuru must have a serious explanation to what is happening. If not, he should be ready to compensate me for the damage - both materially and mentally,” he said.

He added: “The county has a huge space that can be used as matatu terminus; it is unlawful for them to take over my land.”

Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui denied that the county had grabbed Maina’s land, saying it was a temporary measure to help fight the coronavirus.

He said the land and the fencing materials would be surrendered back to Maina once the pandemic was contained.

Mr Kinyanjui said the move was a temporary measure aimed at addressing congestion in matatu parking spots for the “greater good”, hence the need to encroach Maina’s land.

“We are trying to prevent the spread of coronavirus and we temporarily converted the unused land into a terminus because we needed a temporary space as we look for long-term measures,” the governor said in a statement through the director of communications, Beatrice Obwocha.

He said Maina’s land, which is near where the county wanted to set up a new terminus, was the only option.