Scramble for South Ngariama land heats up as elders insist on ownership

Elders of the Mihiriga Kenda or Nine Clans Council  have vowed to fight tooth and nail for 17,000 acres they say is rightfully theirs.

They said a group of ill-will people has been scheming how to acquire the controversial south Ngariama land through conspiracy for their own selfish interests.

They said the "malicious" individuals have been holding secret meetings as they plot and strategise how to flush them out of their lands .

Speaking on Wednesday in South Ngariama, the faction  reiterated they are the bonafide owners of the disputed ranch and are only waiting to be awarded the title deeds.

Led by chairman Apollo Njagi, the  members say they have undergone the due verification exercise, which was overseen by the government and now have in their possession the documents to show that they are the genuine landowners.

He said allocation of the land to the genuine owners was done and dusted and as such there remain no unclaimed parcels.

“All our members acquired the ranch in a legal manner and were given letters of allotment by the now-defunct county council, which, among others, reflected details about the land.

"The allocation exercise was completed way back and each member was given three acres,” he said.

Njagi said any attempts to evict them from their land will not be tolerated and they will even institute legal charges should the need arise.

Njagi said a judgment delivered by Supreme Court judge Isaac Lenaola in 2007 gave them a go-ahead  to oversee  subdivision of the land.

“The other party claims that our land has not been subdivided. They further propose arbitration as a way to settle the matter. We are not falling for this and we will not allow any sort of fresh land allocation," he said.

Joseph Maina Kanyiri, who is the group secretary, group backed his chair’s sentiments, noting they will by all means protect their property.

“When we subdivided and later settled in this land we came in peace and we have all along worked and obeyed the government’s directives .We therefore won’t allow it to be destructed and we won't be provoked by naysayers who think they can come from nowhere and claim ownership of our land,” he added.

The council’s treasurer, James Njagi, said cheap politics has taken a toil on the matter, thus stifling the titling process.

“We have been waiting for our title deeds since the Kibaki era because our lands have been surveyed and verified. Just when we thought that the government had an appropriate framework that will aid the dispensation of our title deeds during Uhuru’s era, politics infiltrated, thus frustrating the process.”

“All we know is that the allocation process of the land was complete and therefore those claiming ownership are undertaking an exercise in futility,” he said.  

He said that the allottees have settled and established permanent residence and as such will not allow themselves to be deprived what is legally theirs.

“We co-operated with the government officials back then so that our efforts to subdivide the ranch would be successful. The county commissioner back then also introduced administration and security officers in this area to substitute any kind of administrative role that we played.”

Muthoni Mungai and Moses Mwangi who are beneficiaries of the land are appealing for the government’s intervention as they called for the fast-tracking of title issuance.

They say the disputed land has been a source of bloodshed for a long time and the time to have the matter resolved once and for all is now here.

The two reiterated that they remain among legitimate owners of the land which was assigned to them in 2009. They say their children have been raised on the land and have identified with it in their Identity cards.

Their sentiments come as  the local county government has been undertaking a verification exercise of 8,200 allottees who claim ownership of the land. In addition, 13 parties have also claimed ownership of the land.

(Edited by V. Graham)