Residents of Kisiriri village in Rumuruti, Laikipia county during a village meeting a day after police officers were deployed in the settlement to evict them /ANTONY MWANGIResidents of Kisiriri village in Rumuruti, Laikipia county have vowed not to vacate their ancestral settlement, claiming someone is seeking to evict them for an investor to take over the 2,192-acre land.
The residents, who say they have lived on the land for generations, maintain they are farmers and not pastoralists as they have often been portrayed.
Antony Lolonyokie said he has lived in the area for 45 years and raised his children there.
“We are being pushed because they want to take our land,” Lolonyokie said, adding that the original owner of the land died in 1957 and their parents were subsequently allowed to settle and farm on it.
The residents said the disputed property is registered as LR No. 24/26, measuring about 2,192 acres and that the matter is the subject of an ongoing court case, including proceedings at the Court of Appeal in Nyeri.
They alleged that an investor has been brought into the area and accused local administrators of attempting to facilitate the takeover of the land.
The residents claimed they have no financial capacity to purchase the land should it be offered for sale, arguing that eviction would therefore leave hundreds of families without homes and livelihoods.
Elizabeth Lengethe said tension escalated after a local administrator allegedly issued a notice requiring residents to vacate the land.
She claimed police officers had been deployed to the area, although residents said they had not personally received the alleged eviction notice.
“We have not received the notice, and the police are harassing us,” Lengethe said.
Moses Lengerde, a resident who said he was born and raised in Kisiriri, said the community was concerned that an eviction could take place while their case was still before the courts.
Lengerde claimed that five police vehicles were brought to the area during an attempted eviction, but residents refused to leave.
The villagers also raised concerns over what they described as an alleged agreement by some locals to surrender the land to the investor. They questioned the authenticity of the purported agreement and said they had not consented to any transfer.
Wilson Leshau, a resident and village leader, said about 3000 villagers were affected by the dispute.
Leshau said the community lodged a complaint in court on April 28, 2018, but claimed they were yet to receive a resolution to the dispute.
“We see no need of having an investor here,” he said, accusing local brokers and administrators of colluding with the investor. The allegations could not be independently verified.
The residents have called on President William Ruto and the Interior CS Kipchumba Murkomen to intervene.
They have also called for the transfer of the local administrator whom they accuse of supporting efforts to evict residents.
“We want to know who is more powerful between the people and a single individual,” Leshau said.
The residents said they were prepared to remain on the land and continue defending their ancestral home.
“We will not give our land to anyone. They have no court order to evict people,” another resident said.
The dispute comes against the backdrop of an agricultural landscape in the wider Rumuruti area, where farms and greenhouses, including flower-growing operations, have transformed large tracts of land into commercial agricultural enterprises.
Residents have urged the authorities to resolve the dispute through the courts and dialogue rather than force, saying any eviction would affect families who depend on the land for their livelihoods.
