Squatters block private investor from developing disputed land

A row has erupted between a private investor and squatters over the ownership of 100 acres of land in Taita Taveta County.

The squatters have blocked the Bayusuf family from developing the plot in the Msharinyi area near Maungu Town along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway.

The Bayusuf family reportedly acquired the disputed land from a ranch to build an industry.

Marungu Ward Representative Stephen Nzai claimed that the squatters have been living on the land for years and had been issued 1450 allotment letters by the government.

Nzai told County Commissioner Linda Okolla and Deputy Governor Christine Kilalo at Marasi Primary School on Tuesday that the investor wants to change the agricultural land to commercial.

“There was no public participation which was done, and the squatters have vowed never to allow the investor to develop the land. The investor is facing resistance from the hostile squatters who want to be settled on the land,” the opposition legislator told the county commissioner and her security team.

Mr Nzai told the county security team that no boundaries had been defined and squatters would resist any attempt to evict them from the land they revered as their ancestral place.

“First there was no public participation, environmental impact assessment (EIA) or social audit that was done on the land in settlement areas. The government needs to define the boundary between the residents' and the investor’s land, which is not clear,” the MCA told Ms Okolla.

“There is a need for a consultative meeting to be held between the squatters, county and national government officials and the investor in the disputed area to find a lasting solution to the problem,” the MCA told the meeting.

Nzai said the local community is not opposed to investors, but they should ensure that they involve the relevant stakeholders to avoid mistrust and conflicts, which could impede investments and economic growth.

Okolla and Kilalo, however, remained mum over the emotive land issue.

In the county, records from the Ministry of Lands show that about 86 per cent of the total land area is occupied by private farms, while the local community is occupying a paltry less than 12 per cent.

“There is no land for the locals, as powerful individuals from outside have grabbed everything, and the problem we are having as a community now is that we have selfish leaders who have failed to champion the interests of the locals.

We have been crying, but there is no action which is being taken to address our plight. Our elected leaders have failed us,” claimed Fabian Mwanyalo, a retired teacher.

This comes amid the clamour to have stolen land reverted to residents even as squatters occupying private and government land are targeted for eviction.

In a recent wave of protests, angry residents have also been invading vast ranches, sisal estates and mining fields demanding their land rights.

In Voi town, the squatters numbering about 1000 are living in fear on the disputed 6-acre plot at Sofia Relini Village after more than 3500 other squatters were earlier forcibly evicted from the adjacent Msambweni area near the Standard Gauge Railway SGR station in Voi.

Three years ago, over 3000 squatters at Ndovuni in Maungu Township along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway were also evicted after the Kenya Wildlife Service obtained a court eviction. The squatters are yet to be settled.

The recent eviction exercise was condemned by the county leadership and the Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Taita-Taveta Diocese Bishop Liverson Mng’onda.

Squatters living at Sofia Relini on the outskirts of Voi town are anxious following the eviction from Msambweni.

More evictions are targeting locals who have encroached on private and government land.

The landless residents are eyeing land owned by public and private institutions in the region, with leaders demanding to know how government and private investors acquired more land at the expense of the community that has been living as squatters for years.

The Kenya Prisons Service and squatters are embroiled in a dispute over 1200 acres of land spread across the county.

At the same time, more than 5,000 acres of land owned by Voi Point Limited is at the centre of conflict with squatters who have encroached on the land they term their ancestral land.

Further, the lease for Mkuki Ranch Limited Company expired in January 2020, and the county government has petitioned the NLC and the Ministry of Lands not to renew the lease. 

And in Taveta, about 3000 acres – Machungwani Farm, formerly owned by the former Taveta MP Basil Criticos – have currently been invaded by more than 10,000 squatters, who have subdivided it amongst themselves.

The land lease to the farm expired in 2014, and the government is yet to determine its status.