Some Maasais from Kajiado yesterday distanced themselves from a pact reached at State House between President Uhuru Kenyatta and some of their leaders over the long-standing land compensation dispute.
Some land activists, led by Letuati Nackson ole Umash, said the State House deal struck on Tuesday disappointed Kajiado Maasai and does not represent the wishes of the people.
Umash and others made the remarks after State House issued a statement on Tuesday evening, saying a 400kv Mombasa-Nairobi electricity transmission line project passing through Kajiado is set to resume following an agreement reached between the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company and the Maa community.
The decision was reached at a meeting of Maasai leaders presided over by Uhuru at State House on Tuesday, where it was resolved that the project should begin in one week after land compensation is concluded.
The meeting agreed that people whose land the Ketraco powerlines will pass through will be paid under the government’s 30 per cent compensation policy.
Umash claimed long before their leaders went to State House, that it was agreed in an Isinya meeting earlier in the year that farmers should be paid at least 50 per cent.
The State House resolution was reached after Energy CS Charles Keter in February recommended a full audit report on Ketraco over alleged graft.
The CS questioned the way the company dished out compensation money from Rabai in the Coast to Kajiado.
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Ketraco later suspended two top officials accused of colluding with locals to frustrate government efforts to acquire land for construction of high voltage lines to transmit power.
On February 23, Ketraco sued 561 Kajiado-based ranchers and firms for refusing to release land which the firm compensated them for, a move it says led to a Sh700 million claim from contractors and consultants it hired to lay transmission lines.
Ketraco wants the ranchers and firms to compensate it for the massive loss, arguing that they have delayed construction for over three years, despite being compensated for their land between 2010 and 2013.
Documents filed in court show that the ranchers and firms were paid between Sh280,000 and Sh36.9 million.
The state corporation had paid for the land to complete installation of high voltage power lines between Mombasa and Nairobi.
Ketraco adds that the failure to complete the Mombasa-Nairobi project by the initial March 2013 deadline has seen taxpayers forced to part with an extra Sh5.4 billion.
The project was initially to cost Sh11 billion, but had racked up bills of Sh16.5 billion by December last year, Ketraco says.