The Egerton University is locked in an ugly land feud with squatters in Lamu county.
The university has evicted more than 10 families from the 432-acre piece of land it claims at Mikinduni in Lamu West.
The squatters who were thrown out of the disputed land on December 19 last year have put up tents next to the property and asked the government to intervene.
They say their houses were demolished by bulldozers and their property destroyed as they were being evicted.
The eviction process was supervised by police and other state officers, the residents said.
Over 50 houses were destroyed during the eviction process.
Lamu county commissioner Irungu Macharia said the land belongs to Egerton University.
He said the police were simply obeying a court order directing them to evict the squatters from the land.
“As police, we simply supervised the whole process. Those claiming to be squatters belong somewhere, let them go back to their homes,” Macharia said.
Many of them say they have been left with only the clothes on their backs and a few other household items saved during the eviction.
Their spokesperson Joseph Kiplagat said no one notified them of the eviction causing them to lose properties that they had invested in for years.
The squatters accuse a section of local politicians of working in cahoots with grabbers to frustrate them.
“There is a previous court case which we won and so you can imagine our shock when they came demolishing our homes and destroying our property.
“We are just staying in camps because we have nowhere to go and we have been left with absolutely nothing,” Kiplagat said.
The squatters are also urging the government to intervene and help them access their farm crops which have since been fenced off within the disputed land.
Simani Gona, a mother of six who has been an occupant of the land since 2001 said her family has nothing to eat as all their food has been fenced off.
“We are mothers and have children. Let them allow us to just access the crops so that we can feed our families. That is all we have left,” Gona said.
The situation has disrupted learning for the affected children as they have now been forced to stay in camps with their parents.
Titus Waititu who has been on the land for over 18 years wants the government to compensate them.
“They can’t just wake up and throw us out. They know very well that’s not how things are done. They need to pay us for destroying our property. Then they should offer us alternative resettlement,” Waititu said.
