A Bura church has dismissed claims it has grabbed more than 300 acres belonging to residents.
Our Lady of Good Hope — Bura Shrine (Mission) — in Wundanyi, Taita Taveta county, has been at the centre of a storm that threatens to stifle its services after residents accused it of land amassment.
The residents say they own the parcel next to the oldest Catholic Church in Kenya. They include Victoria Mghazo, 90, Adolf Mwarenge, 95, Joseph Righa, 92, Andrea Mzee, 96, and Okelo Mwakio, 89.
They have been reduced to squatters in their own ancestral land, they claim. They have appealed to the government to come to their rescue.
But Father Reginald Mwanyasi insists the land belongs to the mission.
Mghazo, a widow, is bed-ridden due to old age. The church has staked a claim of her 23 acres and she is now required to vacate. Her husband Thomas Boli died in 1990.
Mghazo said on Saturday that she has brought up all her children on that piece of land. Boli was also born on the same parcel in 1921. He was a primary school teacher in Wundanyi. In 1952, his father directed him to build his home on the land. His first house was mudwalled and grass-thatched. In the 1960s, the couple replaced the grass with corrugated iron sheets.
Boli’s parents, Eugine Mwakichuchu and Sabina Chari, had hosted the first batch of Catholic sisters posted to the church in 1895. Both died in the early 1970s. They showed hospitality to the nuns and took them in as the church had no houses for its staff, Mghazo said.
Mghazo has buried most of her children on the land. In 2013, however, the church blocked her from burying her son, James Shuma. The church told her to inter Shuma in a cemetery.
On Saturday, Fr Mwanyasi said they have not grabbed any land.
“Did they show you their land titles...?” he asked when the Star sought his comment.
Like many residents, Mwanyasi is of Davida descent, an ethnic group that inhabits the region. He said the church has a title to the entire parcel. The document is in the safe custody of the diocese administrator in Mombasa, he said.
“If you want to see the land title, please go to Mombasa and talk to our bishop. He will show you the title,” Mwanyasi added.
Pressed to expound on the title issue, he declined and ended the conversation saying he had to preside over a burial ceremony and had to leave to avoid being late.
Residents could not, however, buy his title claim. They said no adjudication has been done to solve land disputes not just in the area but all of the region.
Righa said his 50 acres have been taken by the church. He said he was left with only five acres but he is still on the list of those who have been told to leave. He cautioned that he is not ready to leave without a fight.
“I’m not going anywhere. If they want to take it by force, they have to kill and bury me here. This is my father’s land. I will not just let it go,” he said.
Another bedridden resident is Elionara Wawuda, 68. She suffered severe injuries in a road accident 10 years ago. Wawuda had been paying a land rate of Sh300 annually for her 10 acres near the mission and Sh400 monthly rent for all the building structures on the farm.
She showed the Star the receipts she said were issued by the church to confirm payments. Wawuda said they stopped paying three years ago.
“We came together and agreed that we are not going to pay them any money. They had even started charging us rent for the shops we constructed in the nearby shopping centre,” she said.
Bura Mission is the first Catholic Church in Kenya and was started in 1892 by Monsignor De Courmont — an apostolic vicar — and Fr Jean Flick of the Holy Ghost Fathers.
Members of the Taita community were used to transport building materials from Mombasa to Wundanyi. The missionaries learned of the Bura Valley and Chief Mbogholi supported their idea to found a mission.
When Monsignor De Courmont arrived at the place accompanied by one Muslim leader, six askaris, and sixteen Taita porters, Mbogholi announced that he was giving the land as a gift.
De Courmont chose a spot near the mountain stream as the site for the mission and named it Our Lady of Hope. Mbogholi later demanded payment and was given some bales of calico clothes.
On September 30, 1896, the church was completed and the first mass was celebrated the same day. On October 15 that year, a girl in danger of death became the first person to be baptised. She was named Ludovica. Later, many underwent the religious ritual, including Mbogholi's wife.
Thereafter, many residents adopted Catholicism. The mission opened doors for the local community to acquire formal education. Several learning institutions were established, including Bura Girls High School and St Mary’s Teachers College.
In 1909 Sr. Lumberta and other sisters arrived in Bura to assist in teaching and nursing. Later, Monsignor De Courmont appointed Jean Maria Marvel as superior and Fr Martin Rohmer and Br Sollanus Zipper as assistants.
(Edited by F'Orieny)
