Stealing from the poor: Was chief selling plots meant for the landless?

By BOAZ KIPNGENO and JALLY KIHARA

Kenya: A wave of land disputes cutting across the Mau complex is almost turning bloody, as conflict between emerging claimants and initial occupants intensify.

From Kiptororo location — which is under Sino Land Settlement Scheme — in Kuresoi North to villages in Kiptagich, Kuresoi South, similar historical land cases resulting from irregular issuance of title deeds are making resurgence.

Residents are facing displacement threats from new settlers claiming ownership of the same parcels of land. The newcomers have title deeds whereas initial occupants have allotment letters.

The landless Ogiek community are the most affected. Their hopes of owning the land allocated to them by former President Kibaki in 2005 is fading.

The minority community may be heading back to the forest. They claim new occupants have illegally acquired title deeds through the Provincial Administration and are threatening to evict them.

Residents say after former President Mwai Kibaki distributed about 50 titles in 2005 in Molo, he promised that other titles would be issued at divisional headquarters, but the Provincial Administration delayed them.

Strangers were however given the titles at the expense of the landless.

Having been a squatter until 1996, Jane Cherotich Ruto, 60, never anticipated that she would be forced out of her five-acre farm at Kibaraa Village within Sino Settlement Scheme which she claims the government gave her deceased husband Kiprop arap Ruto.

Cherotich says after years of landlessness, her hopes to settle down peacefully became a pipedream after someone surfaced and claimed ownership of her land, leading to a fierce court battle. She is accusing the local administration of scheming to sell her plot.

Forceful evictions

“There is a time the DC asked for allotment letters so that we could be assisted to get titles and we collected them, only for the letters to be burnt in Kuresoi,” she says.

Raphael Chelule Kipkemoi, 64, says the area chief is working in cahoots with wealthy people to sell their land.

“The problem here is the chief; he is colluding with rich people to sell our  land, leaving the poor owners landless,” Kipkemoi said. A few metres away, Jane Chelang’at breaks into tears, as she recounts the number of times her house has been torched by people hired to evict her after the death of her husband.

“Rich people have paid goons who have burned down my house seven times to force me out of this land despite having lived here since 1996,” she narrates.

“My husband is buried here but because I am a poor widow, they want to chase me away,” she adds, tears trickling down her cheeks. She says her plea for help from the local administration have not been fruitful, claiming the area chief is hostile to her.

Kipkoros Mutai, says he helped Ministry of Land officials register beneficiaries of the plots, including his, only for him to be forced out by a new occupant.

A similar story is repeatedly told by several other residents in the same village. Chepchirchir Taprandich, 76, Johana Kiprotich Chepkwony, 74, Raeli Koech and Wilson Rono claim they have been forced out of their plots by people claiming they are the rightful owners.

They all point an accusing finger on the local Provincial Administration. The Standard on Sunday came across a copy of an agreement alleged to have been made between Everlyne Chepkirong and Aaron Bett dated February 15, this year.

The document details how Chepkirong was to let go of plot No 60 to Bett.

It reads in part: “…On the same note Aaron K. Bett on humanitarian grounds agreed to pay Sh20,000 to Everlyne Chepkirong Bett being payment to enable her purchase a one-point of an acre. And therefore no more dispute. The said amount is in Chief’s custody until and when the piece of land is available…”

One plot, several owners

The two parties signed the document presided over by Richard Sigilai, the Kiptororo Chief, but Chepkirong says she was made to sign it unwillingly after being informed that she had no option and would be evicted anyway. When sought for comment on the alleged forced agreement Sigilai said he could not remember how the two agreed. He then hanged up and could not be reached on his phone thereafter.

 “Dubious individuals altered the details of the register and illegally sold the parcels of land to other people,” Philip Koskey, the secretary of the complaints committee, said.

 Koskey, who is also a member of the Myoot Council of Elders, showed The Standard on Sunday a list of similar plot numbers bearing two different names.

He says a group of surveyors “who collected personal documents from residents claiming they were mapping the area in 2005” used the exercise to register other people. “President Moi agreed to give us land in 1996 and the land surveyors he sent handled it very well. Everything was clear until another group came to capture instead of re-capturing,” he says.

He says the area chief and his committee on land allocation created Sino Land Defence Force’ (SLDF), to incriminate and silence anyone who tried to oppose them. 

Kosgey says those who tried to resist the new claimants have been arrested on allegations of assault and other cases.

Paul Lang’at says he was arrested and accused of poaching and theft to distract him from defending his plot. Kipkoros Mutai says he spent days in a police cell over “assault” while trying to pursue his land.

As The Standard on Sunday passed through Kibaraa village within Sino Settlement scheme, a journalist from the area working for a local radio station bitterly points at his new wooden house, which he says he had built before someone emerged and claimed the land, forcing him to abandon the house and resettle several kilometres away.

“Most locals are illiterate and poor. They can’t afford Sh70,000 that most lawyers have asked for,” the journalist said.

At his office, chief Sigilai refutes claims of being behind the disputes but admits that he has been helping those who have title deeds to settle on the pieces of land.

His office, he says, recognises those who have title deeds as legal owners of the land, though he is aware that residents were handed allotment letters by the government between 1995 and 1997.

After issuance of allotment letters, the beneficiaries were never given title deeds which are said to have been sold to other people. Efforts to reach the new claimants proved futile, as we could not establish their whereabouts.

A letter by the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission dated September 21, 2011 and which was sent to Kuresoi DC and signed by Secretary to the Commission Patricia Nyaundi, acknowledged the issues arising in the area including harassment and forced evictions.

Another letter from the National Lands Commission dated February 4, this year,  also cites recent evictions and related going s-on in the area. But area District Commissioner Silas Gatobu denies that people have been evicted from their homes.

According to Gatobu, residents who had allotment letters failed to pay for the title deeds within the period they were supposed to make the payments to the Ministry of Lands for the processing of the documents.

Gatobu however agrees that there are complications on the settlement scheme. “The entire disputes are being handled by the courts and the National Land Commission,” he told The Standard on Sunday on the phone.

In the letter signed by Vice Chairperson Abigael Mbagaya Mukolwe, NLC reveals that certain persons claiming to hold titles have, with assistance of the police (Ngongongeri) and chiefs (Saino), evicted or attempted to evict persons in actual occupation of the land.

Fake titles

The commission, through the letter, says various government commissions/taskforces have established that a large number of titles issued on Mau settlements may not be genuine and need to be reviewed.

“… It was further clarified that holding a title was not proof of ownership especially where the same is contested,” the letter, making reference to a meeting that took place last January 8 to 10 between NLC and Nakuru County leaders, said.

Initial occupants do not understand how the new claimants acquired title deeds whereas the court had put a caveat on all land transactions within Mau complex.

“Why can’t the concerned authorities come to the ground and solve this issue? Why are the leaders quiet?” Koskey poses.