- In the said Kenya Gazette, the commission asked the Ministry of Lands, Physical Planning and Kajiado County Government to survey the farm.
- Sunkuyia said three years after the recommendations were made, no action has since been taken.
Image: KURGAT MARINDANY.
Kajiado MP George Sunkuyia wants the government to implement recommendations made by the National Land Commission in 2019 regarding the ownership of the Ngong veterinary farm.
The NLC in a Kenya Gazette dated March 1, 2019, in a matter pitting Keek-Onyokie-Olmorogi Trust and the Ministry of Agriculture, recommended the Ngong veterinary farm to be re-surveyed.
In the said Kenya Gazette, the commission asked the Ministry of Lands, Physical Planning and Kajiado County Government to survey the farm.
“It should be ensured that all the public utilities and agencies are given sufficient land taking into consideration future land requirements,” NLC said in the Kenya Gazette.
“The residue land revert to the Keek-Onyokie Maasai community to be registered as a community land.”
The NLC also said in the gazette notice, that any land irregularly given to private entities is reversed back to the Keek-Onyokie community.
On Saturday, Sunkuyia claimed that even after the recommendations were made three years ago, no action has been taken.
In a statement signed by Sunkuyia, County Assembly Speaker Juastus Ngossor, and former Kajiado Senator Peter Mositet, about 2,000 acres that were given to the colonial government in 1957 by the Keek-Onyokie Maasai community elders from Kajiado West has been grabbed by private entities.
They said the land in question was donated by the community for research and livestock breeding purposes, but after the country attained independence it handed the land to the Olkejuado County Council in 1975.
The Ngong veterinary farm was instrumental in conducting genetic research targeting improvements in local livestock breeds and carrying out vaccine trials among other essential functions.
The leaders said when the Keek-Onyokie community elders donated the land and several local livestock breeds, there was a mutual agreement that once they were done with the land, it would be reverted to the owners.
“Our elders donated this land to the colonialists in 1957 and even gave them 200 sheep, 12 cows and 2 bulls for upgrading purposes, but we were shocked when the colonialists left after our independence, that land was taken over by the national government,” the leaders said.
“We are not opposed to the government use of the land in allocating the police, Kenya Highway Authority and state agencies, but we feel dejected when private individuals are allocated parts of the land."
Separately, Ngossor said that in 2016, the Senate and the national assembly made recommendations to the National Land Commission to revert the land that the government is no longer using from the Ngong Veterinary farm.
Sunkuyia said the Senate and the National Assembly in 2019 recommended that half of the land be given back to the community.
“Other recommendations made by the two parliaments were that the NLC should investigate how individuals ended up getting pieces of land in the said land and also asked NLC, Ministry of Lands, Physical Planning and Kajiado county Government to undertake to ensure the land under claim is resurveyed,” Sunkuyia.
He also wondered how some individuals ended up getting 100 acres of land there and yet the original owners of that land have not given a hearing.
“For whatever size of land that is left, we demand that the community must be consulted whenever the government planks to do anything on it as we wait for our share as recommended by the Senate and the National Assembly,” the MP said.