• Police ejected them from the 1,000-acre Kenya Broadcasting Corporation property on Monday.
• They had no documents to show that they were being resettled on the property by the government.
Squatters evicted from the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company land in Ruai have threatened to return after failing to occupy KBC property in Matungulu, Machakos.
Police ejected them from the 1,000-acre Kenya Broadcasting Corporation property on Monday. They had no documents to show that they were being resettled there by the government.
The police have since declared the land a no-go zone and cordoned it off.
Mathare 4A Resettlement Scheme Group chairman Reuben Ojwang' said they had no alternative but to return to Ruai.
“We don’t know what to do. We are asking the government to help us. We will take back our belongings to Ruai Sewerage and stay put until the government decides where to resettle us,” Ojwang’ told the press at KBC police station on Thursday.
He claimed they had been taken to the KBC land by Lands PS Peter Muraguri.
The Star established that there is a pending dispute in court over KBC land ownership between the government and Koma Ranching Cooperative society.
“We were brought here by the Lands PS Peter Muraguri but the area sub-county police commander has told us that we are not allowed on the land unless we have documents from the government showing that we have been resettled on it,” Ojwang’ said.
Matungulu sub-county police commander Kipkemoi Kirui confirmed that the KBC land had an ownership dispute.
Kirui said he had no problem with the 2,000-plus evictees if they produced documents of occupation from relevant authorities.
“Some of those who introduced themselves as leaders of the squatters evicted from Ruai came to my office claiming that they had been told to come to the land by the PS Lands. I insist that they must produce documents from said office,” he said.
Earlier, Machakos county commissioner Esther Maina told the Star that she wasn’t aware of any squatters who were to be resettled in her county by the government.
“It isn’t true that those evicted by the government from Ruai have been resettled on KBC land in Matungulu since I haven’t received any communication on the same,” Maina said.
This was in response to claims by some of the evictees that they had been taken to the land by the Lands PS.
Over 50 families are still stranded in Ruai after the demolition of their houses.
“We don’t have problems with IDPs. Let them come with letters from the government. If they are genuine squatters and the government is willing to settle them on the land, we welcome them,” Kirui said.
- mwaniki fm