Taveta County to settle 5,000 squatters on Criticos’ Farm

Taveta businessman and politician Basil Criticos has lost 3,000 acres of land as the county government works with land surveyors on demarcation.

Machungwani Farm, which the National Land Commission reverted to the county after the end of its 99-year lease in 2004, will be used to settle over 5,000 squatters who claim it is their ancestral land, and have been living on it for decades.

“The settlement programme will be open to ensure that genuine squatters benefit from the land,” said Governor John Mruttu. Surveyors are currently establishing boundaries, beacons and setting aside utility plots.