Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

A land ownership dispute is brewing in Nyahururu after people invaded a 600-acre piece of land and started ploughing it in what is suspected to have started due to political incitement.

Situated on the eastern side of Nyahururu town, the land is owned by people and entities among them the Catholic Church.

The land, which has been the main grazing area for hippos living in water mass at Manguo, Lake Olbolosat and River Ewaso Narok that flows from the lake, was subdivided in the late 1990s, according to a land dealer John Waigwa.

“Part of the land was set aside for show ground, industrial park, schools and settlement,” Waigwa said.

The chairman of the 100-member Nyahururu Workers Housing Co-operative Society, John Mureithi, said they own about two acres of the land which was legally allocated to the society by Commissioner of Lands. He said the Society has been paying land rates to the local government.

“We are not going to let go of the land since we legally got it and have been paying rates to the county government,” Mureithi vowed.

The land has been undeveloped for 20 years but it is around August election period when people woke up to find several tractors roaring in the field and other people digging the land manually.

 During Jamhuri Day celebrations, Governor Joshua Irungu said EACC will be called in to investigate how public land in Nyahururu, including the affected  land, changed hands.

“We are going to invite EACC to come and help the County repossess grabbed public land in Nyahururu town starting with the land that people have invaded during the transition,” said the governor.

Supporting the Governor, County Commissioner Joseph Kanyiri ordered people who have grabbed public land in the County to surrender them immediately or be prosecuted.

 He said the government needs the land to put up amenities, including affordable houses. “All grabbed public land in Laikipia must be surrendered. Those who fail to comply will be pursued, arrested and prosecuted,” warned the administrator.

Kanyiri urged people seeking to buy land in Laikipia to do due diligence to avoid being sold land through use faked documents.

 The Governor said soon the land next to the Nyahururu main bus park will revert back to the government after EACC managed to have powerful people who had grabbed the public surrendered it.

Irungu said the land will be turned into a mitumba market so that second hand cloths traders can move from road reserves and streets.