More than 300 families in Lamu West fear they might be rendered homeless by a German tycoon and "at least 15 others" in the scramble for land bordering the Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport corridor -Lapsset - project.
They are residents of Mkondoni, Sina Mbio and Kalafuu in Hindi division. They accuse the German and others of arming themselves with title deeds with which they claim ancestral land.
Land in Lamu is yet to be demarcated. Over 60% of land in Lamu is community property. The residents wonder how those claiming their land got the titles.
Now the families want the National Land Commission to intervene and secure their over 700 acres by demarcating and issuing them with title deeds.
They want Governor Fahim Twaha to push for the issuance of the titles.
On Monday, Mkondoni village elder Hassan Chonde said they were shocked that people could lay claim to their ancestral land.
He said they were ready for any eventuality to save their lands if no one else comes helps.
“They even have the title deeds and the other details. Can you imagine being told your own land belongs to someone else and they even tell you they have evidence to evict you and there is nothing you can do? We hope the NLC and the county government can do something to help us otherwise there will be war,” said Chonde.
Musa Kassim said “it definitely has to do with the fact that the land is close to the Lapsset. I mean, our villages are just less than five kilometres to the port site. But let them know we are not going to make it easy for them. There will be a war to defend our lands."
The villagers accuse the tycoons of using scare tactics by setting their homes and crops on fire at night.
“We have on many occasions slept and woken up to find all crops in our farms totally burnt. We don’t need a prophet to tell us it’s the tycoons who are behind it. Our houses have been torched several times too. We hope they won’t allow these people to succeed because we have nowhere else to go,” said Fredrick Mwangi.
