- Ildamat community argued that they had been displaced from their land even as they thanked the court for the fair judgment.
- Jacob Samate from Ildamat clan said he was eagerly waiting for the judgement so that those who had been pushed from their ancestral land could repossess it.
Image: HANDOUT
Three Maasai clans living in the Ntulele area of Narok county have been directed to equally share a 140,000 acre land which they have been fighting over.
The three are Ildamat, Keekonyoke and Purko.
A three-judge bench of the Environment and Land Court last week directed that only the original group ranch members should benefit from the land.
The judges maintained that the 2,222 people in the group ranch list when the land was first divided in 1982 are the legitimate owners and should benefit from the 138,379 acre land.
This means that those who had occupied larger parcels of land will have to surrender to the persons that benefited from lesser shares.
The three judges are Charles Mbogo Maxwell Gicharu and Emmanuel Washe.
The judges who gave a uniform judgement said the subdivision exercise was successfully conducted and a certificate issued in December 1982 and thereafter invited anyone with complaint to launch within 60 days.
"It is our finding, that by the time an adjudication section is declared complete, the adjudication map and list of members had been completed," Justice Washe said.
“A declaration that all persons whose names appear in the list are entitled to the land, hence the 2,222 whose names appear in the adjudication section are tenants in common and none should utilise a larger share than the other.”
Justice Gicharu said the law does not protect every expectation but only those which are legitimate.
“For avoidance of doubt, the 2,222 persons contained in the adjudication register completed on December 1, 1982 are deemed to be tenants in common over the entire suite property known as Ntulele Adjudication Section,” he said.
Justice Mbogo said that all the members of Ildamat, Kekonyoke and Purko clans whose names appear in the register should all benefit from the equal share.
Ildamat community argued that they had been displaced from their land even as they thanked the court for the fair judgment, saying most people who had been displaced from their ancestral land will get justice.
Jacob Samate from the Ildamat clan said he was eagerly waiting for the judgement so that those who had been pushed from their ancestral land could repossess it.
Tom Mboya, also from the Ildamat clan, also praised the court for giving a fair judgment and asked the land adjudication office to exercise fairness when subdividing the land.
However, the Purko and Keekonyoke clans opposed the judgement saying the 1982 register is outdated as the population has increased, insisting that the court should have allowed the residents to continue living in their current homes.
George Esho, a former councillor in the defunct county council, said their members had formed into seven group ranches and sub-divided their land, wondering why the court discredited the group ranches formed by the community.