How Sacco turned squatters into home owners

Kamais Anyetho outside her newly built house at Rumuruti in Laikipia County [Kibata Kihu, Standard]

In the interior of Laikipia North, a kilometre from Rumuruti town, bare land dotted with shrubs and manyattas paints a picture of an austere life.  In the Kandutura settlement area, residents eke out a living from cattle rearing, casual work in the nearby ranches and flower farms.

Kandutura mainly has immigrants from the Maasai, Kikuyu, Turkana and Pokot communities who left their ancestral homes due to political upheavals and other social disruptions and became settled in the area. It is an area one would not associate with homeownership considering the nature of land tenure for residents, some of whom are nomads.