Ntimama smells rat in Narok land deal

By Karanja Njoroge

Members of the Maasai community have vowed to resist Government attempts to hand over the controversial Kasuku farm in Mau Narok to the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (Kari).

Cabinet Minister William ole Ntimama led community members on a tour of the 4,200-acre farm and said they would not allow the land to be used for agriculture research by the Government.

Mr Ntimama said the community has written a letter to Chief Justice Willy Mutunga to protest the Government’s attempt to convert the land for agriculture use despite a pending ownership case.

Ntimama said the land had been wrongly and illegally handed over to Kari and the Agriculture Development Corporation (ADC).

Well-connected individuals

The National Heritage Minister claimed the move to give the land to the two institutions is a ploy by a few well-connected individuals to grab the land.

"These two institutions (Kari and ADC) have handed over nearly all their farms to favoured individuals. It is, therefore, right to say this is a ploy to cheat wananchi when the land is to be transferred to the favoured few," the minister said.

But as Ntimama addressed the media and the crowd at the farm, more than 15 Government tractors continued to plough the land, his presence notwithstanding.

"Scores of askaris are now deployed on the land to guard and protect about 20 tractors as they till the land," said Ntimama.

The controversial farm was initially acquired by the Government for the resettlement of more than 900 Internally Displaced Persons.

However, the Government was forced to shelve plans to the resettle the IDPs following strong opposition from the Maasai community who allege it is part of their ancestral land.

Ntimama, accompanied by a section of leaders from his Narok North Constituency, said the Constitution supports claims by any community for present or historical land injustices and to get appropriate redress.