One person has been arrested as the death toll from the Wednesday Miwani Sugar factory chaos rises to three.
This after one more body was discovered in the company's nucleus estate
The deceased identified as Wilis Akong’o was found in a sugarcane plantation after he went missing for more than 24 hours.
He was one of the drivers hired by auctioneers to ferry enforcement officers to effect the evictions at the sugar factory
Nyanza regional police boss Karanja Muiruri said that one person linked to the clashes has been arrested.
Muiruri said the suspect will be arraigned in court, to face charges of trespassing and malicious damage of government property.
He said that police have already launch investigations into the matter.
Receiver manager Francis Ooko on Thursday, said the company lost 2,000 tonnes of cane, that was set ablaze on Wednesday during the chaos.
“The land we are standing on has never been challenged in court what was challenged is the surrounding nucleus," he said.
Miwani land settlers and factory workers lawyer David Otieno also said that the process was illegal and the people who initiated the takeover should be held responsible for lost lives.
Otieno said while it's true that there was a court judgment on September, 30, 2021, that ordered on the nucleus estate. The court never issued an eviction order in favour of Crossley Holding Limited.
Last year, the Environment and Land court in Kisumu declared that CHL owns the land but Miwani Sugar appealed the ruling and was awarded a stay order
“We don’t have the information regarding the identity of the auctioneer alleged to have invaded the property and it's unsafe and ill advice for an auctioneer to take such decisions without involving security agencies," Otieno said.
The lawyer said that they have gathered from their client that the local security agencies were completely unaware of what was going on.
“The loss of life is unfortunate. I talked to my colleague handling CHL case and he confirmed that he did not know what was going on," he said.
"We can only assume that probably his own client had decided to initiate a process not known to law to possess the property."
Otieno said that they have also confirmed from the court file, and it shows that the court did not issue any eviction orders to any auctioneer.
He said their was no warrant issued to another auctioneer to recover anything from the sugar factory.
“The Wednesday events were premature, illegal and the people who initiated it should take responsibility for what happened including the loss of life and damage of property," Otieno said.
He however said that they have not made a formal complaint regarding what happened because they don’t know who was behind the chaos.
(Edited by Tabnacha O)
