• Tycoon won a case which allowed him to evict the squatters.
• Court ordered tycoon to allocate six acres to school.
A tycoon in Kadzuhoni, Magarini, Kilifi county, on Tuesday obtained court orders to evict more than 3,250 squatters from 339 acres.
This is after a case over the disputed land that covers an entire location was ruled in his favour and orders issued for the squatters to voluntarily vacate within 45 days or face forceful eviction.
The 45 days expired last week. The tycoon visited the area on Friday with heavily armed county police to be shown the boundaries before effecting the orders.
Reports indicate the security team gave the residents three days to vacate or their houses would be demolished.
Currently, the residents, who have lived on the land since before Independence, are living in fear as they don't know any other place to call home.
Also affected are more than 880 children of Kadzuhoni Primary School on the disputed land.
The court ordered the tycoon to allocate six acres to the school but leaders asked how the children would go to school yet their parents will have been evicted.
Magarini MP Michael Kingi and Gongoni MCA Albert Kiraga convened a meeting at Kadzuhoni Primary School on Sunday to stand in solidarity with residents. They assured them that they were doing their best to prevent the execution of the orders.
The MP said together with Governor Amason Kingi, he was trying to file an appeal to challenge the judgement.
In his speech, Kingi said he always sheds tears upon thinking about the land issue and would do anything to ensure residents are not evicted.
"We expected to get stay orders from the Court of Appeal to stop the eviction until the matter is heard. Unfortunately, the tycoon still has powers to effect the court orders," he said.
He said such problems were to be addressed by former National Land Commission chairman Muhamad Swazuri but "due to his greed, he collaborated with tycoons to frustrate residents who are suffering from land injustices".
"I cannot criticise the court but it would be better if they came to the ground and met residents to get a picture of the situation," he said.
Kingi said they have lined up a team of lawyers to work on the appeal and put up a strong defence.
He told the residents to remain calm and desist from any form of violence as they were handling the matter in a legal way.
During the meeting, residents seemed desperate, hopeless and were worried that soon they could be evicted forcefully.
They expressed their fear to the leaders and called on them to take action.
Nyevu Kadenge, a woman in her 90s, asked why the tycoon wanted to evict them from where she was born and lived with her parents and grandparents.
Kadenge, who has a son serving in the National Police Service, said she buried 38 family members in her home including her husband.
"Where do I go? It's sad because I have lived here all my life. I even lost my teeth here. You came to open a school recently who will learn if we are evicted?" she asked.
Dama Karembe, another granny, asked where she would take her great-grandchildren and grandchildren if the eviction is effected.
"The tycoon should go and buy a place for the people to settle and do their farming. I buried my husband here and have 15 children some of whom were buried here also," she said.
Pastor John Sulubu said most of the witness in their case were non-locals and did not bother to go to court.
Edited by R.Wamochie