16 injured, vehicles damaged as Golbo protests force suspension of land registration

Twelve police officers and four demonstrators were injured and 19 vehicles damaged during protests over a disputed community land registration exercise in Golbo Ward, Moyale Constituency, as the government moved to suspend the process pending consultations with residents.

Marsabit County Police Commander Leonard Kimaiyo said the vehicles damaged during the demonstrations included nine buses and a police vehicle, after protesters barricaded sections of the Moyale–Nairobi highway and disrupted traffic into and out of the border town.

The most affected section was at Odda, about 10 kilometres from Moyale town, where protesters blocked the highway with stones, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded along the key transport corridor linking Kenya and Ethiopia.

Kimaiyo said police officers responding to the demonstrations were among those injured as the protests turned violent.

“Protesters blocked the roads with stones and attacked vehicles using the route,” Kimaiyo said, adding that security officers had been deployed to restore movement and prevent further destruction of property.

He urged residents involved in the demonstrations to remain peaceful and pursue their grievances through the relevant government agencies instead of resorting to violence.

“We are asking residents to remain peaceful and follow the required legal procedures in raising their concerns,” Kimaiyo said, calling on those disputing the land registration process to channel their grievances through the appropriate government offices.

The demonstrations were triggered by opposition to an ongoing community land registration exercise in the Dabel area of Golbo Ward, with residents accusing authorities of proceeding with a process they say does not adequately accommodate the interests of all communities that have historically used the land.

Protesters have objected to the proposed registration under the name Dabel-Sakuye Community Land, arguing that grazing rights, cultural use and ancestral attachment claimed by other communities in Golbo Ward should form part of the consultations before the registration is completed.

The dispute prompted the government to temporarily halt the exercise, with Moyale Deputy County Commissioner Benedict Munywoki confirming that land officials who had been travelling to Dabel had been instructed to turn back.

“The land registration exercise has been suspended to allow dialogue and consultations among the communities,” Munywoki said.

He said the suspension was intended to create room for the affected groups to discuss the disputed process before government officials return to the area.

“The officers who were heading there have been asked to return until a solution is reached,” the DCC said, adding that the government was closely following the dispute to prevent it from undermining relations among communities in the area.

Munywoki said consultation was particularly important in Golbo because pastoral communities living in the area depend on shared resources, including grazing land, especially during dry periods.

“These communities depend on one another in livestock keeping, particularly during the dry season when they share grazing areas,” he said.

He added that authorities wanted the land registration process handled in a manner that gives affected communities an opportunity to raise their concerns and pursue legal recognition of their respective community land interests.

“We want the communities to engage in consultations so that each group is given an opportunity to register and legally recognise its land,” Munywoki said.

The suspension came after residents and elders raised concerns over the manner in which the Dabel registration was being undertaken and called for broader consultations before further action was taken.

The protests, however, escalated beyond the land dispute when the barricades paralysed movement on the Moyale–Nairobi highway, affecting passenger buses, private motorists and commercial vehicles using the route.

Residents also alleged that security personnel, including Kenya Defence Forces officers, had been deployed during the unrest and claimed some demonstrators sustained injuries after shots were fired.

The circumstances surrounding the injuries to the four demonstrators were not immediately clear from the police account.

Kimaiyo called for calm as consultations over the land dispute continue, saying grievances over land should not result in attacks on motorists or security personnel.

The government has not indicated when the suspended registration exercise will resume, with the next step now dependent on consultations between authorities and the communities laying claim to interests in the Dabel area.