Vetting of landowners at disputed scheme in Nakuru starts

The Government has moved in to resolve a decades-long dispute at a controversial settlement scheme in Nakuru County.

A fresh profiling and vetting exercise of all the expected beneficiaries of the 8,000 acres at Ojlorai scheme was launched yesterday.

Kampi Turkana residents lining up during a profiling and vetting exercise of all the expected beneficiaries of 8,000 Oljorai land in Nakuru county on May 11,2016. (PHOTO: KIPSANG JOSEPH/ STANDARD)

National Lands Commission Chair Muhammad Swazuri oversaw the start of the one-week exercise at Kampi Turkana, which will then be conducted in other four villages spread across the controversial expansive land in Gilgil.

While launching the much-awaited exercise, Swazuri described Oljorai farm as a hotbed of land-related conflicts and said the land would be sub-divided into 10 sections for easy management. "Newly constructed structures will not be entertained. They will be pulled down until the process is concluded and genuine land owner's allocated land," he warned.

In 1974, the Agricultural Development Corporation bought 24,000 acres from Mr Blockn Oljorai and proceeded to breed pedigree livestock. However, the parastatal stopped its operations in 1993 and about 1,300 workers settled on the farm without any ownership documents.

Then came the State's settlement scheme in 2002, with the squatters being given first priority. Several people have been killed and property worth millions of shillings destroyed in the land dispute.

This has resulted in bloody confrontations between the squatters and those who claim to be the genuine owners. In the past, houses belonging to some of the squatters have been burned down by the so-called intruders who wanted to evict them.

Gilgil is one of the areas in Nakuru under heavy speculation from private developers.

"The rich should not be allowed to oppress the poor. These are the people who do not have the muscle to fight for their rights," said Swazuri.

In recent years, members of the Kalenjin and Maasai communities have claimed ownership of the land, resulting to clashes. Also fighting for the same land are members of Kikuyu community under Nyakinyua farmers society. According to area MCA Jane Simita, former ADC workers and those who worked for the white settler are to be given the first priority.

Several land officers deployed to carry out profiling and vetting took records of all the beneficiaries, including their national identification data, place of birth and when they arrived and settled on the farm.