Kindiki, Koome and OCPD sued by Mumias landlords

A group of youths who were arrested by police from Mumias West police station when they had gone to plant maize in one of the disputed Mumias Triangle plots. [Nathan Ochunge, Standard]

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kindiki Kithure, the Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome, (IG) and Mumias West Sub County Police Commander Stephen Muoni have been sued by at least 30 landowners over disputed plots in Mumias town.

Mumias Officer Commanding Station (OCS) and the Attorney General have also been listed as respondents in the matter lodged at the Kakamega Environment and Lands court.

The landowners, led by Suleiman Sumba and Abdalla Owuotsi, through Mandala and company advocates have petitioned the court to give a restraining order to the respondents from evicting them from the disputed land and to allow them to utilise it.

"The respondents are constantly attempting to evict and chase the petitioners from their homes and farms for no apparent reasons, and they have promised to evict them from their homes at the time of the respondent's choice," the court papers read in part.

The application will be heard on May 7, 2024, by Kakamega Environment and Land Court Judge Dalmas Omumbo.

Kakamega County government is claiming ownership of the 210-acre piece of land insisting that the property had been compulsorily acquired for the expansion of Mumias town.

Residents who have encountered several threats since 1992 say they have title deeds for the land.

The petition was filed after police officers ordered them to stop planting and vacate the troubled land.