- The road from Waranga to Kairo in Mathioya was tarmacked in 2010 and about 300 farms were affected.
- The families are however yet to be compensated and they have been frequenting lands registry and the National Lands Commission looking for answers.
Image: Alice Waithera
When the government started the construction of a tarmac road from Waranga area to Kairo in Mathioya subcounty, Murang’a county, in 2010, residents were elated.
The area that is near the Aberdare forest is characterised by a scenery of beautiful tea farms.
The road would thus make it possible for their produce to be collected with ease.
However, residents say a list of about 300 people whose farms would be affected by the road was drawn for compensation that has not been effected to date.
Lazarus Gitahi, a Kairo resident, said his family has been waiting for compensation for more than a decade, and that their efforts to follow up on the matter have not been fruitful.
Gitahi said the residents were called for a meeting by the chief at Wanjohi area, where a list of all the affected families was read.
The residents were assured that they would receive their compensation.
“I have valuation documents indicating that the government owed my family Sh480,000 then and we are still waiting,” Gitahi told the Star.
The unpaid compensation, he said, affects the succession process and causes conflicts in families.
He said Kenya Rural Roads Authority that was in charge of the road construction cut down trees that had been planted along the road and tea bushes.
It then constructed drainage trenches from the road through his farm to a bordering river. The trenches were made of concrete but have since been corroded by run-off water and spread into his farm.
“They made the trenches through the tea farm. You can imagine the kind of losses incurred. The concrete from the trenches has now been swept all over my farm by water,” he said.
Image: Alice Waithera
Agnes Njoki, on her part, said, despite the government’s failure to compensate them, the land near the river banks has become unusable due to the run-off channeled from the road.
The land floods during the rainy season and they are forced to leave it idle to minimise losses.
“We are afraid that all this water that is going through our farms can cause landslide because are farms are hilly,” she said.
Njoki also complained that Gatamathi Water Company that serves the subcounty harnessed water from the Aberdare forest, and used their farms as a way leave without compensating them.
The pipes run adjacent to the road, she said, and make it impossible for them to construct permanent buildings near the road.
This is despite the fact that their farms are prime properties as they are next to the tarmac road in a tea zone.
“And even after failing to pay us for the way-leave, they supply us with water only occasionally and charge us a minimum of Sh500 per month,” the resident said.
Efforts to reach the water company’s managing director Charles Muriuki were futile as calls and text messages went unanswered.
Image: Alice Waithera
James Magua, another resident, said 240 tea bushes and nappier grass were uprooted from his farm to make way for the road.
Several drainage trenches were also constructed through his farm though he said he was not given a valuation report.
“The trenches were dug in 14 homes and none of us have been paid for anything. They have now become muddy," he said.
"The current valuation of one tea bush is Sh1,000 so the government owes me over Sh240,000 just for the tea bushes.”
Charles Githii said when they were called for a meeting at Wanjohi Youth Polytechnic, he signed the consent documents and left the compensation documents at the chief’s office. He was owed Sh28,000 then.
Githii said many people have died waiting for their compensation.
He said the trenches dug in his farm are equivalent to three eighth of an acre plots of land.
In 2019, Githii and several other residents went to the county lands registrar and were told to go to the deputy county commissioner’s office and the roads department. There has been no success.
What pains him more is that they had even submitted their bank accounts and were waiting for the money to be deposited.
Other families were forced to prematurely undertake succession to get an administrator of their properties in order to receive the payment.
Some of the residents have also been frequenting the county National Lands Commission seeking answers.
They were informed that the commission had not been formed when the project was undertaken and it is, therefore, not the one responsible for the compensations.
The case is, however, said to have been taken over by the NLC’s national director of valuation who also could not be reached for a comment.
Sources inside the commission indicated that the compensation ought to have been undertaken by Kerra as every project has budget factors such as expenses.
Efforts to reach Kerra deputy director in charge of Murang'a and Nyeri counties Joseph Wanjohi to establish whether his office had received the residents' complaints were also unsuccessful.
Mathioya MP Peter Kimari raised matter in the National Assembly in February 2020 and it was referred to the Lands Committee from which he has not received any answers.
Kimari plans to raise the issue in the House again as he vows not to rest until it is concluded.
(edited by Amol Awuor)