Uasin Gishu residents demonstrate over grabbed 2,000-acre land
By Winstone.Chiseremi, May 18, 2023A storm is brewing between 1,300 households and a private developer over the ownership of more than 2,000 acres of prime agricultural land in the Sergoit area in Uasin Gishu county.
The land in dispute was allocated to the affected families in 1978 by the government after they surrendered their parcels of land to pave way for the construction of Tambach Teachers Training College in Elgeyo Marakwet county.
Other families that benefited from the controversy riddled property, are those which surrendered their parcels of land to pave way for the expansion of Iten town, which is the headquarters of the regional government.
On Monday, the affected families staged demonstrations in the area accusing a private developer of allegedly using fake title deeds to evict them from the land.
The demonstrators were angered by the private developer’s action to hire a group of goons who sprayed their maize plantation with a killer chemicals that led to withering of the crop in the vast farm. “Our hopes have been dashed after all our maize plantations have withered following a move by a person who claims to be the owner of this property hired goons to spray killer chemicals to our maize crops,” said one of the residents, Fredrick Chebet.
He said they were relocated from Elgeyo Marakwet to pave way for construction of public institutions that include Tambach TTC, Iten District Hospital, Patrick’s High School, Iten Iten Police station among other public institutions.
Chebet urged the government to intervene in their plight and save them from imminent eviction from the said private developer.
He has also called upon the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate the title deeds in the possession of the said private developer. “We suspect that the documents in possession of the private developer, including the title deed are forged and we are calling upon EACC to investigate the legality of these documents,” Chebet said.
Another affected family member, Said Keitany, regretted that their effort to reach local administration to address the matter has been futile.
“We have been visiting various government offices in this region where we are only given promises with no serious action,” complained Keitany.