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A prominent cereals farmer in Uasin Gishu county has now turned to the council of elders and church leaders for their intervention after an access road leading to his 20-acre parcel of agricultural land was fenced off by his neighbours.

William Barmasai, 80, has sought the intervention of elders and clerics to mediate in a long standing conflict over the access road with his neighbours with a view to facilitate peace and harmony between the feuding families.

The elderly man’s plea comes after the Lands and Environment Court sitting in Eldoret ruled against his prayers to compel his neighbours to open the road he has been using to access his home for more than 60 years.

Speaking to the media at the blocked access road, Barmasai said that his grown up children, relatives and friends can no longer visit him after his neighbours obstructed the access road.

According to Barmasai (pictured), for him and his children to access the home from the main road, they are forced to trespass through several homesteads of friendly neighbours’ lands stretching about 200 metres away from the main road.

He stated that the access road leading to his home was only 50 metres away from the main road before being fenced off after the High Court’s shocking verdict.

“I have a sick wife who is supposed to be driven for medical check-up at an Eldoret hospital twice a week but there is nowhere a vehicle can pass through to access my home,” lamented Barmasai.

Completely blocked

Barmasai said that he has been forced to abandon a car that his children bought for him and wife since the access road they have been using for decades has been completely blocked.

One of his children, Sally, recounted the difficult moments they are going through to ferry their sick mother to the hospital using a wheelbarrow following closure of an access road to their home by their neighbours.

While delivering his ruling on the matter, the Lands and Environment Court Judge Elijah Obaga stated that the mere fact that Barmasai family have been using the disputed access road for a long time is no justification for the same to be declared as being the official access road.

“If the court was to order that parcel No 260 should be accessed through the disputed area, the effect of this would reduce the defendant’s land,” ruled Justice Obaga.