Machakos residents should not be duped into buying pieces of ILRI's land
next to the proposed Konza city.
Governor Alfred Mutua issued this warning at his office on Monday
after a meeting with Jimmy Smith , who is director general of the International Livestock Research Institute, and county security bosses.
Mutua said unsuspecting buyers had been conned out of more than Sh50 million.
He noted that a court order restrains people from interfering with the property in any way and asked police to enforce the order.
“No one should purchase or try to sell Kapiti land because it does not belong to anyone but IRLI," he told a press briefing.
Mutua accused Mavoko MP Patrick Makau of involvement in the land invasion and said the same people were behind the Syokimau and Portland land sale sagas.
He spoke a day after the MP addressed locals at the site, assuring he would help them
acquire the 32,000-acre piece of land.
Makau, who was with three MCAs from
his constituency, addressed a crowd of about 3,000 people on Saturday.
He said the land should be allocated for locals to develop it as a residential area for Konza Techno city.
The lawmaker said that this way,
historical land injustices will be addressed as the land originally belonged to the locals.
Makau asked the governor to join the quest and ensure the land is returned to the people.
Makonza society chairman Shadrack Muli and his Konza South counterpart Harrison Ngui said locals had not benefited from research conducted on that piece of land.
On Sunday, ILRI director Jimmy Smith explained that invaders' activities had affected research.
He noted ILRI bought the land
in 1987 and that the research benefited Kenya and other African countries.
"Vaccine trials on Rift valley fever and foot and mouth disease are supposed to be going on, but because of the encroachment and obstruction, this work cannot go on," he said.