Police, residents fight over attempt to demolish house
By Christine.Musa, July 29, 2024
A scuffle ensued between police officers and residents of Munyeti Farm, Athi River, Machakos county, following attempts to demolish houses in the disputed piece of land.
Angry residents fiercely engaged officers accusing them of harassment and intimidation, thwarting plans of carrying out demolition and forceful evictions, yesterday.
The masked uniformed officers said to be from Nairobi Area command raided the village and ordered the locals to leave.
According to the officers, the land in question belonged to a government entity but defiant residents protested blocking them.The officers who did not have any document of land ownership proof nor a court order said they were working on orders from above, a declaration that angered locals.
“The commander of the police officers who are not from Athi River has categorically said that they are acting on orders from above. He told us that ownership documents are not what matters but rather who calls the shots,” said Jackson Kasamu, the community spokesperson.he utterances and threats speak volumes of how rogue agencies which are supposed to protect Kenyans can stretch. We will not be cowards as residents to vacate our land, we know our rights.”
Locals say to have been residing in the 50-acre piece land for decades saying that some rogue government officials claiming to be from state house are using police to harass them with motives of grabbing land.
The locals also questioned why operations and eviction exercises are solely being carried out by police officers without any formal communication.
They also question why Athi River Sub-County Police officers were not involved, saying the cartels are working in cahoots with unknown police bosses to carry out illegal operations.
“The contingent of police officers is not from Machakos county. There is no representative of police command in our county and that means it is a dubious exercise being carried out without any notice on a weekend.
“We are now living in fear of the unknown because of what we have witnessed, women and children are the most affected,” said Pauline Wanjiku, a residents.